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GOVERNOR WOODROW WILSON 



A 
PEOPLE AWAKENED 

THE STORY OF 

WOODROW WILSON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN 

WHICH CARRIED 

New Jersey to the Lead of the States in the Great Move- 
me'nt for the Emancipation of the Government 

By 

CHARLES READE BACON 

OF THE STAFF OF THE PHILADELPHIA RECORD 



Garden City New York 
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
1912 






Copyright, 1918, by 

Charles Reade Bacon 

All rights reserved, including that of 

translation into Foreign Languages, 

including the Scandinavian 



JAN -8 iS 14 



(c:. r.i A Q n 1 ?^ o f! 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB PAO£ 

I. People may have a chance in Jersey 3 

II. May clear way for Woodrow Wilson 7 

III. Forces ready for fray 11 

IV. Name Wilson with hurrah 14 

V. Opens his campaign 25 

VI. Enthuses G. O. P. stronghold 32 

VII. See in Wilson great leader 36 

VIII. Men of Monmouth warm to him 44 

IX. Big lead in race 51 

X. Pledges to waken Jersey 55 

XI. Keep close tab on Wilson wave 63 

XII. Strong in " Enemy's Country " 66 

XIII. Points way to new era 74 

XIV. Enthuses Bridgeton throng 80 

XV. Forget storm at hearing him 86 

XVI. Has grip on Jersey voters 92 

XVII. Lewis' home city welcomes 95 

XVIII. At shrine of great leader 99 

XIX. Finds text in machine itself 103 

XX. Winner in Republican 9cean 1 1 1 

XXI. Eager for every thought' 117 

XXII. Refutes a, falsehood 123 

XXIII. Voters' share in theme 127 

XXIV. Hunterdon breaks loose 134 

XXV. Reads a new lesson 139 

XXVI. Winner in contrast of men 147 

XXVII. Leading people to light 151 

XXVIII. Free of alliances 155 

XXIX. Salem responsive to plea 163 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXX. Sees a better day i68 

XXXI. Puts end to lethargy 174 

XXXII. Calls for old times 179 

XXXIII. Pleads for open door 186 

XXXIV. Scores with workers 190 

XXXV. Smashes Passaic's record 195 

XXXVI. Win thinking men 201 

XXXVII. County of the foe warms 207 

XXXVIII. Warns ballot crooks 212 

XXXIX. Last call greatest 218 

XL. The people spoke 225 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Governor Woodrow Wilson Frontispiece ^ 

FACING PAGE 

U. S. Senator James E. Marline 12 -- 

Hon. John W. Wescott 16 

Representative Thomas J. Scully 48 

Edward E. Grosscup, Chairman State Committee .... 72 ^ 

Hon. J. Thompson Baker 88 i^ 

Hon. David S. Crater 118 ' 

William K. Devereux, Sec'y State Committee 120 

Judge Howard Carrow 156 

Judge William C. French 160 

Capt. Ralph W. E. Donges 166 

Representative William E. Tuttle, Jr 180 

Gen. Dennis F. Collins, Treasurer State Committee . . . 182 

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Kalisch 214 



INTRODUCTION 

Until Woodrow Wilson suddenly loomed upon the horizon of its affairs 
New Jersey was asleep. Vain efforts had been made from time to time to 
raise it from its somnolence. It seemed that the people were perfectly 
willing to sleep and be robbed. They refused to realize that the big rail- 
roads, for instance, were paying taxes out of all proportion to those of 
the small householder or business man, so ridiculously out of proportion, 
indeed, that when the issue was fairly framed before the legislature the 
railroads themselves met it and made only a half-hearted fight against a 
decent readjustment. 

The people of the state seemed perfectly willing to permit the agents 
of the big corporations to pose as political leaders and so direct legislation 
as to give the public utility concerns the legislation they desired to per- 
petuate their control over rates and monopoly of franchise. It seemed 
utterly impossible to arouse the people to the necessity of action against 
a condition which made for their loss, which kept their tax bills up and 
their incomes down, which made a farce of elections and a side show of 
legislative sessions. 

The legislatures were chosen by the party bosses with one necessary 
qualification for candidates, and that a willingness to serve the same 
interests which had for so many years shaped the course of the legis- 
lature and kept a strangle hold upon the people. It was known to every 
correspondent who ''covered" the legislature for his newspaper that for 
years the committees of both houses of the legislature were made up in 
the offices of big corporations, and that these committees were expected 
to "take care" of the bills affecting those corporations. They seldom 
broke the faith. To break it meant political death, and men seldom 
court that ignominy. 

There had come over the state, as a result of the insistent cry of some 
of the men who had chafed under the yoke, a strong undercurrent of 
feeling. Then there appeared in spots indications of an awakening. 
There was soon visible an unrest, a demand for change, and for a time 
there did appear something that looked like an awakening, but the party 
boss bossed a little harder and the big interests paid a little more and the 



INTRODUCTION 

poll lists were padded a little more and then the people sank back to 
sleep again. 

Then came Wilson, and the story of how this strong man aroused the 
latent energies of the people of New Jersey is here told. 

It is an unusual story for America, but Woodrow Wilson is an unusual 
man, and it did not require many days of his new kind of campaigning 
to show the people the stuff of which he was made. It was very 
quickly discovered that they had been waiting for him, waiting for him 
for years, waiting for a man and a leader who could show them the way. 
That he has done so is a story familiar to nearly every man in America. 
Of his struggle against the bosses of his own party after he had won his 
signal victory: of Ms long, hard battle for the rights of the plain citizen 
in his first legislative session : of his second campaign for the retention of 
the grip of the people upon their government in New Jersey another 
story may be told, but here is presented in plain, historic fashion the 
story of his achievement in stirring the people into animation and 
fighting mood. 

The president of Princeton University had not figured in the poHtics 
of the state. He was scarcely known outside educational circles. True, 
his name had been "used" several times in connection with the nomina- 
tion for Governor, but it was never with serious intent by the politicians 
who controlled such nominations, because Woodrow Wilson was known 
to be a man who would boss himself. It is true he received a number of 
votes of Democrats for United States Senator in the session of the leg- 
islature of 1907, but these were merely complimentary, and he would not 
have had them if there had been any possibility of his election. The 
Republicans controlled the legislature on joint ballot. Therefore, he 
entered the arena of politics a total stranger to the inside workings and 
the closed-door feature of the game, and he served warning upon those 
who were expecting to play the game that way that they need expect 
no aid from him. 

The story of Woodrow Wilson's coming into the political life of 
America comes from the day-to-day history of his remarkable campaign, 
written as it occurred and sent hot on the wires, with no prepared 
speeches or any of the set-to-music feature of political campaigns. The 
chapters here presented are the daily dispatches to the Philadelphia 
Record as I sent them during the tour of the state, together with parts 
of my weekly letters preceding and during the campaign. 



A PEOPLE AWAKENED 



A People Awakened 



PEOPLE MAY HAVE CHANCE IN JERSEY 

REPUBLICAN LEADERS FEAR KEAN'S CANDIDACY WILL BE HANDICAP 
IN GUBERNATORIAL BATTLE 

Trenton, July lo. — Things political are beginning to happen with some- 
thing like expected regularity. Prosecutor of the Pleas Pierre P. Gar- 
ven,of Hudson County, is out as a candidate for the Republican nomina- 
tion for Governor. Garven is the man who got the poker after the meat 
barons, only he has not yet got them in his grip. Somehow the law and 
the courts do not stand in with the prosecutor, although the Hudson 
County Grand Jury did find sundry incUctments against the men who 
have played such a star part in the tragedy of high prices. In most of 
the moves they have been able to get away with the tricks and now the 
prosecutor, backed by more or less influential men of his party in that 
section of the state, evidently believes that the people can be aroused 
to the value of placing him in the executive chair at Trenton, although 
what direct effect upon the situation that would have is not made clear. 

Naturally, all the men alHed with the big trade combinations, all the 
Wall Street agents, and all the other financial interests would like to see 
a man like that in the chair at the capital. It would be so nice. But 
there is no more chance of the nomination of Garven than of the selec- 
tion of Aviator Curtiss, and Curtiss is not a resident of New Jersey. 
Somehow the time does not appear ripe for the people to get together and 
manifest the strength that lies inert in the masses. They have not ap- 
parently been sufficiently stirred by conditions to make any great con- 
certed movement. Despite the great clamor over the tremendous in- 
crease in the cost of Uving they seem to be content to let the situation 
alone — that is, the great overwhelming majority of them do. 

The men who take the lead by sheer power and force, who gather fol- 



4 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

lowings of their fellows and do the work of the world, seem to be willing 
to allow the case to adjust itself. Here and there appears an intense and 
enthusiastic toiler, unselfishly devoting his time and his strength for the 
betterment of things, but the same old political control continues, and 
the machine managers of both parties are directing efforts along the 
same old Hnes, and the chances for the selection of an independent 
man for Governor are remote. 

President Woodrow Wilson of Princeton University evidently has been 
able to get a clear view of the situation as it exists, for he has stated with 
some degree of positiveness that he must not be even regarded as a 
candidate for Governor, or anything else. It is probably just as well 
that he has that view, since it would not be at all likely for the Demo- 
cratic convention to agree upon a man of his particular standard. The 
fear that a campaign with him as the standard-bearer would be the 
frostiest kind of a " frost" would, no doubt, prevent such a choice. Then 
there is former Assemblyman William P. Martin, of Essex, the choice 
of the Progressive Republicans for the nomination — a clean, square, 
and able man, with a record for fighting stubbornly and persistently for 
the things demanded by the people as he has conceived them. Where 
will he have a ghost of a show to win the Republican nomination with 
the regulars lined up with apparently more effective organization than 
ever, and with practically no Umit to the size of the barrel they will be 
able to tap? 

But suppose it were possible for all the people who look with favor 
upon Garven, or Wilson, or Martin, or some equally untrammelled man, 
to get together in a movement such as is now being made by the dis- 
satisfied elements in Pennsylvania? Suppose it were possible to call 
a big convention of these effective elements and name a candidate to 
represent them, a candidate who would go out into the battle armed with 
the effective weapon of a strong personality, a record of things well done, 
and a purpose to toil for the welfare of the common people, would there 
not be some possibility of a coalescence of the discontented into a com- 
pact and effective engine of destruction for the overthrow of the powerful 
machine organization? Some wise observers show no hesitation in de- 
claring that that is likely to happen. 

One of the stories of the recent days has been to the effect that more 
than one of the powerful leaders among the Republicans has indicated to 
Senator "Jawn" Kean that he cannot be reelected. "Jawn" does not 
regard that information as reliable, however, and he will probably pro- 
ceed to show them a thing or two. Still, there is every reason to believe 



PEOPLE MAY HAVE CHANCE IN JERSEY 5 

that the Senator stands beaten to-day. It has been said that some of 
the party leaders fear greatly for the success of the campaign for Gover- 
nor if he comes to be regarded as the chosen one for the senatorial toga 
again. They fully understand what it will mean to have the masses of 
voters get the idea that the Republican party in the state is willing to 
stand for a man of his character, especially as there will, no doubt, be a 
large and significant vote at the forthcoming primaries on the senatorship 
which while not binding upon the members of the legislature will still 
have the effect of indicating the spirit of the people. It is said that Kean 
would greatly fear to entrust his candidacy to such a vote even with the 
party leaders pledged to him, for after the showing he made in the last 
session of Congress as the echo of Aldrich there could be no doubt as to 
what the action of the voters would be. 

In that connection there has been a deal of interesting speculation as 
to who was the instigator of the foul attack upon former Governor Stokes 
which recently was broadcasted through the state in the form of a letter, 
with no date line and no signature and mailed from Harrisburg, Pa. 
Somebody must have paid for the printing and the postage as well as 
for the clerical work necessary to get the letter mailed. It has been 
estimated that there must have been at least 100,000 of them mailed to 
the twenty-one counties, and the total cost, including postage, must have 
been at least $3,000. Somebody with a lot of money to spend and with 
an object to accomplish must have been back of the enterprise; but, of 
course, nobody is willing to venture a guess as to who it was. Still, it 
would be mighty interesting to know who took so much pains to show a 
hand in the great fight. 

When former Governor Murphy was confronted with the suggestion 
that he was not a bona fide candidate for Senator, but was merely in the 
game to hold votes for Kean, he very quickly and indignantly spurned the 
idea. He said he was in the contest for himself and for no one else, and 
that any one who suggested anything different was laboring under a 
delusion, that was all. 

That suggestion was born probably of the idea that Murphy will be 
the strongest man in Essex and that his candidacy for the Senate will 
help the ticket for Governor and the legislature there, so that if he should 
become an impossibility as to the choice for Senator he could turn his 
votes over to another candidate. Naturally, the thought at once turned 
to Kean as the one, but the former Governor has never been known as a 
trader or plotter, and his admirers declare that he can be trusted when he 
says he is for himself. Some savage attacks have been made upon him 



6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

recently by some of the German societies of Essex, and as Major Carl 
Lentz is supposed to have a considerable influence with these organi- 
zations, and the Major is said to be toiling for the Kean interests, the 
friends of Mr. Murphy naturally lay these attacks at the door of the 
Senator, who will probably deny their authority with proper and spirited 
indignation. 

The letter of Senator George S. Silzer formally announcing his can- 
didacy for Governor on the Democratic ticket attracted more than pass- 
ing interest for not only the people of his own party but for Republicans 
as well. The Senator places himself squarely upon his legislative record 
as to what should be expected of him in case of his nomination and that 
ought to inspire confidence in him, for he has steadfastly maintained an 
attitude of open hostiHty to the interests which operate against the needs 
of the hour in New Jersey. As an unbossed man, who has twice shown 
his strength before the people of his own county, he should make a for- 
midable candidate for the Democrats. What they propose to do about 
it, however, remains to be seen. 



n 

MAY CLEAR WAY FOR WOODROW WILSON 

JERSEY DEMOCRATIC LEADERS HOPE TO CONCENTRATE FORCES 
ON PRINCETON PRESIDENT 

Trenton, July 17. — The attitude of President Woodrow Wilson of 
Princeton University regarding the Democratic nomination for Governor 
of New Jersey will require an entirely new alignment of forces on all 
political sides. If the Democratic leaders shall succeed in landing him as 
the nominee in a convention likely to start out as hostile they will have 
accomplished something worth while, assuring to the people, irrespective 
of party afl&liations, a stable, patriotic, and politically unbiased executive. 
But his nomination will cause more than ordinary anxiety upon the part 
of the Republican leaders, who, while they have as yet made no slate, 
evidently have the situation fairly well framed and count upon the power 
of organization to pull them through. It will be necessary for them to 
reckon upon what likely percentage of the Republican independent vote 
President Wilson is apt to influence sufficiently to drag it away from the 
regular ticket. It will be necessary, too, for them to make mathematical 
calculations as to the probable effect the senatorial situation is to have 
upon the fight for Governor, for if it be possible for the Democrats to go 
into the campaign with a man like Wilson as the standard-bearer it will 
mean that the RepubUcans will have to come as near as possible to not 
only matching him in independence and achievement, but eliminating 
all possible effect of the certain weakening influence of the Kean can- 
didacy for Senator. 

Some of the Republicans are coming to an understanding of that 
situation and will very likely reach the decision sooner or later that Kean 
must be counted down and out. It will be mighty dangerous in New 
Jersey this year to depend upon mere cash for victory. The graft reve- 
lations in Illinois, where Lorimer was elected to the Senate by cash 
votes, will have its certain effect upon the people of this state, who have 
known for some years that under various methods cash has figured in the 
choice of United States Senators. Usually it is in the form of "campaign 



8 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

expenses" for candidates for the State Senate or Assembly, and already 
there are stories afloat to the effect that somebody is pledging financial 
support to candidates for the Assembly in Stokes's home county of 
Cumberland, with the apparent purpose of making as brave a show as 
possible against him at home. But Stokes seems to be paying close 
attention to his canvass for the primary vote, and as that means he will 
not be a candidate in any one section, but in the whole state, the showing 
may go for naught. But the men who are managing the Kean campaign 
seem to have little care for the expression of the sentiment of the people 
at the primary polls which Stokes's candidacy will produce, as they are 
proceeding along the same old lines. 

The canvass of former State Assessor Baird is proceeding with such a 
degree of quiet as to be ominous of something, whatever it may be. 
Lately some of the south Jersey leader's able lieutenants have given 
strong reiteration to his own positive declaration early in the game that 
he meant to make this the effort of his life; that he is intent upon making 
the Senate as the crowning triumph of his interesting career, and that 
when the real fight opens he will be found well to the fore in the 
firing line. 

Friends of the former Assessor now know how disastrous it would be to 
have it go forth that he would favor Kean if unable to land the prize for 
himself, and some of them are at pains to make it clear that Baird has no 
such intention and never has had. Nor is it possible, under visible signs, 
that former Governor Murphy has any intention of aiding Kean, so that 
as a matter of fact the race for the place would appear to have narrowed 
to the three powers in the party — Stokes, Baird, and Murphy. 

But that is not the only phase of the sudden stimulus which the Wilson 
episode has given the political situation. It will be necessary for the 
Republicans to readjust things with respect to the nomination for Gover- 
nor if it is discovered that there is real probability of the nomination of 
the university head. Neither side has yet named the date for the state 
convention, both evidently watching the situation to see what is likely 
to eventuate. If the Democrats make sure of the nomination of Wilson 
they will have no hesitation in fixing the date of their convention without 
regard for the Republicans, and the Republicans would be put to the 
extreme of anxious thought for a choice to make the campaign against 
the scholar and patriot, who has given to the world some of the best 
thought of the day and who will doubtless gather under his banner the 
best people in the state. 

Of course, nearly everybody understands how difficult it is going to be 



MAY CLEAR WAY FOR WOODROW WILSON 9 

to nominate Wilson. Congressman Eugene Kinkead, of Hudson County, 
who undertook the task of bringing about the possibility, is confident 
that he can manage to get the consent of all the other likely candidates 
to withdraw so that the nomination of the university head may be made 
by acclamation, but the other candidates show no present disposition 
to do anything of the sort, and their friends are counselling them to stick. 
Some of the astute leaders of the party are not carried away with the 
idea of naming Wilson. They fear, as has been stated here, that he will 
be too much of a "frost" in the campaign; that he will be on a high aca- 
demical pedestal, unable to get down to the level of the ordinary audience 
such as gathers to see and to hear the candidate in an exciting campaign 
as this is going to be. 

Senator Silzer, of Middlesex, whose election as Governor would be no 
mistake, has declared that he expects to remain in the fight to the last. 
Mayor Wittpenn, of Jersey City, says he has no intention of getting out, 
and Assemblyman Kenny, of Hudson County, expresses the same 
sentiment. They are of the opinion that the nomination of Wilson 
will not do; that the people will not stand for it, and that a live 
Democrat with independent leanings and a clear record will be necessary 
to success. 

Former Senator James Smith, who was the accredited originator of 
the plan to make Wilson the party choice, may be able to bring it about, 
however, for it is well known that he is the strongest man in the party, 
with able lieutenants in all parts of the state. But it will be necessary 
for even Smith to get City Collector Robert Davis, the Hudson chieftain, 
into line for it before it can be accomplished. Davis has made no def- 
inite statement as yet regarding his attitude, but it is understood that he 
might be willing to stand for Wilson. It has been stated that Katzen- 
bach, of Trenton, would be willing to leave the vay clear for Wilson if 
the situation developed that way. The former ]\i.ayor has declared that 
he is not a candidate for the ofiice in the sense of seeking it, but he has 
inferred that if the Democrats in convention appear to want him to make 
the battle again he stands ready to do so. That puts it up to the Mercer 
County men to move. Wilson comes from that county, as does Katzen- 
bach, and the leaders there are among some of the best in the state. 
Katzenbach carried the county when he ran three years ago, and is still 
very strong with the voters there. In a speech at Keyport, at which 
he was the guest of honor the other night, the former Mayor aroused 
great enthusiasm by once and for all denying that there had been any 
party treachery to him in Hudson County in that memorable fight. As 



lo A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

a matter of history, his nomination was made by the Hudson men, and 
it was a peculiar local situation at the election that appeared to show the 
treachery for which his defeat was at the time ascribed. His denial has 
done a good deal to strengthen him in Hudson and to make the nomina- 
tion of Wilson more difficult, but Katzenbach will probably aid the 
movement if it is put up to him. 



Ill 

FORCES READY FOR FRAY 

ALL COMERS AGAINST WILSON THE LINE-UP ON EVE 
OF DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 

Trenton, Sept. 14. — "It will be Wilson on the first ballot by a big 
majority." That's what former Senator James Smith says. 

"It can't be Wilson on any ballot." That's what the friends of Kat- 
zenbach and of Silzer and of Wittpenn say on the eve of what promises to 
be the most enthusiastic state convention New Jersey Democrats have 
held in a dozen years. 

Senator Smith, the recognized party leader, was on the ground early 
with Colonel George Harvey, the head and front of the Wilson boom, 
and they never flinched from the ground they both held all along, that 
the president of Princeton University would be nominated for Governor 
and triumphantly elected. For a time early in the night, as delegates 
and party leaders for the several counties began to get into town, 
it looked as though their emphatic statements were borne out by the 
facts. 

But as the night grew older and the Katzenbach and Silzer men got 
busy the situation became less clear. Indeed, at a late hour there was 
some indication that a combination against the Smith programme might 
win out. It was conceded that, if the Princeton man could not be named 
on the first ballot, he could not be named at all, and to prevent that very 
thing the supporters of the other three candidates were laying plans to 
hold the anti- Wilson vote in their grip. 

In this situation it was stated by a close friend of Senator Silzer that 
they could hold at least 800 votes out of the 1370 on the first ballot. 
They had as allies former Senator Hinchliffe, with the big Passaic dele- 
gation; Mayor Wittpenn, who claims 90 of the 236 in Hudson, but who is 
accorded only 63^ by the Davis men; Sheriff Harrigan, who has 25 of 
Essex County's 216, and Katzenbach, who has Mercer solid and prob- 
ably a strong following from other south Jersey counties. They figured 
that, by a coalition of these votes, they could stand out successfully 



12 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

against the Wilson programme and then settle upon the man to win, 
either Katzenbach or Silzer, 

Of course, Senator Smith knew early of this proposition to defeat 
Wilson, and he had his lieutenants close to the job every minute. He 
received reports from all the county delegations and sifted them care- 
fully, and at midnight declared that he had no reason for changing his 
early estimate of the situation. 

"Doctor Wilson will have 800 votes on the first ballot, and will be 
the nominee," said the former Senator in his quarters at the Trenton, 
" and he will sweep the state. He is by far the strongest man the Demo- 
crats can name and, in the present state of the public mind, with Maine 
gone for the Democrats in a tremendous landslide, it looks like a Demo- 
cratic year in New Jersey. 

"I had no desire to get into this contest at all, but it was like the old 
fire horse getting the sound of the alarm bells, and now I am in it and I 
see victory ahead. We can win with Wilson, a man of high attainments, 
not an ofl5ce-seeker, and a man who rose from the people." 

As a matter of fact the several counties were not sufiiciently repre- 
sented to afford any real basis of calculation. All that could be depended 
upon was the information imparted by the leaders of those counties, and 
they did not appear of one mind. William C. French, of the Camden 
County delegation, and Patrick Harding, a rising young lawyer of that 
county, were firm in the statement that Camden would be soHd for 
Wilson with 105 votes on the first ballot, and in this they were confirmed 
by former Assemblyman William J. Thompson, who will be chairman of 
the delegation. County Chairman W. H. Davis, however, declared 
that Camden would give Katzenbach 81 votes at the first call, and other 
delegates supported him. The delegation will caucus in the morning. 

Atlantic County is said to be solid for Wilson, and County Chairman 
Clarence L. Cole has been picked to make the nominating speech. As 
Atlantic is the first in alphabetical call of the counties, the strategic 
advantage of that programme is at once discernible. It is presumed that 
there will start a big demonstration for the Princeton man that may 
sweep the convention. 

But Wilson will have no vote from his home county of Mercer, which 
will be solid for Katzenbach, and that is regarded as an element of 
weakness. Cumberland County is uncertain, although Captain Samuel 
Iredell, B. Frank Hires, and Mayor George Hampton, of Bridgeton, feel 
kindly toward Katzenbach and admit that Silzer sentiment is not lacking 
there. The chances are former Senator Smith will come near holding 




"Copyright Clinedinst" 

U. S. SENATOR JAMES E. MAUTINE 



FORCES READY FOR FRAY 13 

the county for Wilson. Cape May is apt to be the same way. Salem 
is inclined to favor Katzenbach, and Burlington is very much in earnest 
for the Trenton man, who came near landing three years ago. 

Silzer is strong in his home county of Middlesex, and James E. Mar- 
tine, who received a big vote for United States Senator yesterday, de- 
clares Union is for Silzer. So that, as the night grew old, it looked like 
any man's race. Of course, much depends upon certain earnest con- 
ferences in the hotels, and the whole situation may be cleared in 
utmost harmony before the leaders get to sleep. 

Whatever the outcome of the convention it is evident to the coolest, 
most dispassionate observer that the Democrats of New Jersey are 
enthused as they have not been in years; that they are closer together, 
have more confidence, and stand better before the people than since the 
days when they had everything their own way. 

With every one of the twenty-one counties represented, and three of 
the four members-at-large present, the State Committee held one of the 
most earnest meetings in years, at the Sterling. Chairman Nugent 
presided, and John R. Hardin, of Essex County, was agreed upon for 
temporary chairman of the convention, with Secretary W. K. Devereux 
at hi& old job at the head of the desk. 

The important feature of the meeting was consideration of the plat- 
form, which Chairman Nugent presented. It was taken up plank by 
plank and discussed with much earnestness. Assembly Leader Mark 
Sullivan, of Hudson, being called in to aid with his legislative experience. 
No final agreement was reached, but a sub-committee consisting of Dan 
Fellows Piatt, former Senator William D. Edwards, and former Judge 
Willard Cutler was appointed to revise it for presentation to the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions to-morrow. 

The planks agreed upon move for direct primaries for nominations for 
all ofificers, including United States Senators, Congressmen, and Gover- 
nors; for the extension of the civil service to all ofiices, county and mu- 
nicipal, as well as state; the extension of rate-making power to the Utilities 
Commission; a more comprehensive employers' liabilities law, and more 
strmgent laws against bribery and corrupt practices. 

It was the general opinion that the unit rule will not prevail in the 
convention, and that means a fine old fight. 



IV 

NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 

PROMISES GOOD GOVERNMENT AND WANTS STATE TO LEAD 
IN CONTROLLING CORPORATIONS 

Trenton, Sept. 15. — Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton University, 
was nominated for Governor by the Democrats of New Jersey in one of 
the most harmonious and enthusiastic conventions the state has seen in 
years. It happened on the first ballot, just as former Senator James 
Smith predicted last night, and when he said there would be nearly 800 
votes for Wilson on that ballot he knew what he was talking about. 
There were just 747^, which was 40 more than necessary to a choice. 
Frank S. Katzenbach, of this city, had 373; Senator George S. Silzer, 
of Middlesex, 210; Mayor H. Otto Wittpenn, of Jersey City, 76^, and 
Sheriff William Harrigan, of Essex County, 6. 

Before Secretary Devereux could announce the official ballot the 
delegations began to shout changes, Middlesex starting off with the 
Silzer vote and others falling in line with vim, so that in an instant there 
was the utmost confusion, with shouts for Wilson and wild cheers of the 
victorious hosts. Amid the Babel of sound Chairman Hardin recog- 
nized George La Barre, of Mercer, who had fought so sturdily but vainly 
for the nomination of Katzenbach, with a motion to make the Wilson 
nomination unanimous, and it was carried with a shout that made the 
timbers of Taylor Opera House shiver. 

There was but one slight discordant note, but that was quickly 
smoothed over. Former Assemblyman Samuel S. Swackhamer, of Som- 
erset County, endeavored to have the platform amended so as to include 
a declaration in favor of local option on the liquor question. He was 
not sufficiently swift in a parliamentary tangle and lost his opportunity 
of having the question threshed out on the floor of the convention. 

The platform was adopted with but that temporary bit of friction, 
and that did not extend beyond the few men from Somerset, all 
the rest of the big delegation of more than fourteen hundred showing 
every desire to sidetrack it as an issue for some other field. The dec- 

14 



NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 15 

laration of principles met the approval of not only the party leaders wlio 
drafted it, but it was easily discoverable that the delegates regarded it 
as of the highest order of merit, committing the Democrats of the state 
to good government and pledging them to stand for the best in legis- 
lation in the interest of the whole people. This idea was embodied in 
the keynote of Doctor Wilson's speech, made at the conclusion of the 
convention, when he was whirled from his Princeton home, twelve miles 
away, to the convention hall in an automobile that did not stop for 
much on the way. He said in the course of his address, a bright, 
patriotic, scholarly effort: 

"We shall not ask the voters of the state to lend us their suffrages 
merely because we call ourselves Democrats, but because we mean to 
serve them like honest and public-spirited men; tru^ Democrats because 
we are true lovers of the common interests, servants of no special group 
of men or interests, servants of the interests of the people and of the 
country." 

Probably the happiest one man in New Jersey to-night is Henry 
Eckert Alexander, editor and publisher of the Daily True American, of 
this city, who long ago picked President Wilson as the standard-bearer 
for New Jersey Democracy and who has never faltered in his devotion 
to his cause, despite the sentiment of Mercer County for former Mayor 
Katzenbach. Another delighted man is State Committeeman Charles 
H. Gallagher, who, taking Katzenbach at his word that he was not a 
candidate, also stood for the Princeton scholar. 

The whole spirit of the convention was manifestly earnest, hopeful, 
and its atmosphere charged with the scent of victory ahead. There was 
no mud-slinging, but a broad and charitable desire of each of the striving 
clans to please the other and to get the greatest possible good out of the 
deliberations of the body. It became evident by the time the convention 
had taken the recess at one o'clock, after completing the preliminaries 
of organization, that the proposed combination of young men who stood 
so strongly for the nomination of Katzenbach, or of Silzer, or of Witt- 
penn could not be effected, that the wall thrown up by former Senator 
Smith and Robert Davis, the Hudson leader, was too formidable for 
successful attack, and that the only thing possible for them to accom- 
plish was to go on with what chance they might possibly expect of 
stampeding the convention in the interest of one or the other. But all 
efforts in that direction proved ineffective, though the Katzenbach men, 



i6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

led by the solid Mercer delegation, aroused the great audience, which 
jammed every inch of space of the immense theatre, to frequent demon- 
strations in favor of their favorite. 

The spirit of the situation was given fresh illustration when Smith and 
Davis, between whose physical proportions there is great disparity, 
walked arm in arm down the street and took lunch together. It was 
then known that with the tremendous votes of Essex and Hudson prac- 
tically united upon Wilson there was no chance for any one else, and the 
combination, unable to bring any other votes to its side save those it 
had counted last night, and some of these having quit, practically gave 
up before the balloting began. 

The committee reports again demonstrated the degree of harmony 
that prevailed, for after the noon recess the Committee on Credentials 
reported no contests, although there had been some little difficulty in 
straightening out the factional troubles in Essex and Hudson for the 
Harrigan and Wittpenn men. The Committee on Rules might have 
caused a severe rupture with its recommendation for the absolute adher- 
ence to the Democratic principle of every man heard but for the feeling 
that there was to be no fight and that the leaders had the necessary votes. 
The unit rule was cast aside under the report and it was sustained. 

While that was regarded as some victory for the Katzenbach men, 
since it gave every delegate the right to have his vote cast as he desired, 
it availed nothing, for on the call of the ballot later only two counties 
were challenged and they made little change. The Committee on 
Permanent Organization, in which there had been some promise of fric- 
tion, recommended the retention of John R. Hardin as permanent chair- 
man, with the rest of the temporary organization, and there it rested. 

So it was all plain sailing toward the presentation of the candidates. 
On the call of the counties Atlantic came first in its alphabetical order, 
and Lawyer Clarence L. Cole, of that county, took the platform to pre- 
sent the name of Wilson. One or two of the Katzenbach enthusiasts 
became a trifle impatient and called him to "name the man," but Mr. 
Cole stuck bravely to the task of extolling the virtues of the candidate 
and calling upon the people of the state to rise for his election as the best 
man of the hour, a man representing their interests and one who could 
be trusted with the work of giving the state a wise and economical ad- 
ministration of its business affairs. 

Oratory flowed after that, just as it is wont to flow at a Democratic 
convention, and each nominating speech had for its central thought that 
the one man who could sweep the state was the man to be presented to 



^^I»^ 


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^^^^^^^^^^L^ ~ ^ ' 




^^W -^.a'l^s^ w^^'*"' 


^1 



HOX. JOHN W. WESCOTT 



NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 17 

the convention by the particular orator. Frequently the impatient 
friends of one of the other candidates made futile effort to break with a 
demonstration, but it was short-lived and the work of picking a man 
went bravely on. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Cole's speech one of the exciting episodes of 
the convention occurred. John J. Crandall, the venerable and pictur- 
esque lawyer from Atlantic City, who occupied a front seat in the or- 
chestra row, with the Atlantic delegation, arose to protest the nomina- 
tion of Wilson, and a man named Goller, from Egg Harbor City, who re- 
clined in the orchestra enclosure, endeavored to push him back to his 
seat. White with anger, after the second futile attempt of the fellow, 
Crandall raised his heavy cane and brought it down \\ath such force as to 
break it into bits across the shoulders of the man, who instantly sub- 
sided. Crandall went on with his protest, which was drowned in the 
perfect Babel of confusion that followed, but what he endeavored to say 
was that the people were not for Wilson, but for Silzer. 

Josiah Ewen, of Burlington, very briefly presented the name of Katzen- 
bach, and it was seconded by former Judge John W. Wescott, of Camden, 
in one of the most forceful and eloquent speeches of the convention, in 
the course of which he declared that Katzenbach was unbossed and rep- 
resented all that was desirable in a chief executive for the state, but at 
its conclusion former Assemblyman William J. Thompson, chairman of 
the Camden County delegation, shouted from the "peanut gallery" 
topmost round of seats, just under the high dome: " Mr. Chairman, two 
thirds of the Camden County delegation is for Woodrow Wilson." Sena- 
tor Silzer's name was presented by Surrogate P. F. Daly, of Middlesex, 
as a man who had accomplished much for the people in the four years 
he had served them in the Senate. 

On the call of Cape May County in its turn somebody made his way 
down a jammed side aisle and somebody lifted him bodily to the stage. 
He was identified as J.Thompson Baker, one of the founders of Wildwood, 
and a business man of eminent success. Somebody cried as he attempted 
to speak: "Get the hook!" but it was lost so far as its intended effect 
was concerned. Not a tall man, as stature goes, but a large man 
as heads loom; a man with rumpled iron-gray hair, shaggy brows, and an 
eye that glinted in the half-light, Mr. Baker was known to no more than 
a small fraction of that immense and impatient crowd, so that when he 
was lifted bodily to the stage and stood for an instant gazing out over 
the human jam he found few friendly eyes turned his way. His first 
sentences sent the hostile audience into a spasm of further impatience, 



i8 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

and there lurked in the atmosphere the suspicion that the convention 
might repeat the performance so frequent to such gatherings. There was 
impending peril to the Wilson managers of a stampede for Katzenbach or 
Silzer. Mr. Baker seemed to feel it, too. He appeared to poise for 
flight and then to launch forth into the teeth of that cold atmosphere, 
feeling his way with a skill that marked him for no amateur. The anti- 
Wilson forces were making themselves heard and they had no desire to 
listen to any more Wilson eulogiums. Mr. Baker smiled and waited, 
waited for an opening that seemed impossible to obtain, so insistent was 
the convention upon proceeding without further delay. His first utter- 
ance, then, caught its fancy and he got the desired opening. "To 
holler is a good thing!" he cried, watching the effect, "especially for a 
Democrat, for he has good reason to holler this year." The effect was 
magical. The crowd cheered him, then listened, and in a minute or two 
it was getting one of the best convention speeches ever heard in the state, 
and the party managers were set to wondering how it was that this man 
had not been called to action in other hard battles. There was good 
humor, sincerity, magnetism, and deadly earnestness in the well-mod- 
ulated and ringing quality of the voice; the energetic gestures were new 
and the whole make-up of the speaker refreshingly different from the 
verbose and stilted character of so many convention speakers. As he 
proceeded, the anti-Wilson forces, though caught by the manner and 
winning quality of the man, seemed uncertain of their ground, and 
several at once shouted: 

"Who are you for?" 

There was his opening, and with the skill of the master this small, busi- 
nesslike looking man on the stage was quick to grasp it. "Who am I 
for?" he cried with vehemence and the fire kindling in his eye: "Who 
am I for? I'm for the whole four of 'em, and I'd tell you more about it 
if you weren't in such a hurry!" 

The effect was instantaneous. There was such good humor in the 
note, such a friendly turn, such an earnestness that the crowd caught 
up the cry and with mighty shout gave ear to the man. His way was 
clear, the day was gained and the Wilson backers now knew that there 
was no further peril. "Go on!" shouted the audience as Mr. Baker 
paused to await the subsidence of the applause, and there was no further 
interruption of his speech save in the frequent breaks of applause waves. 

"I wanted to say to you that whoever is put to the front as the party's 
candidate will be supported by the other three in the race " he proceeded. 
"New Jersey is not turning away from any of its favorite sons. Per- 



NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 19 

sonally I favor one of the four. I favor him because he is a man who is 
splendidly equipped for chieftainship, because he is a man who has 
written better than any other man on the rights of labor and the dues 
of capital." 

Mr. Baker paid a magnificent tribute to the character and attain- 
ments of Doctor Wilson and, concluding, he said: ''In the name of the 
convention and for the sake of the Commonwealth I second the nomi- 
nation of that true statesman, Woodrow Wilson." 

There was left not the shadow of doubt after that as to what was going 
to happen, and it was very evident that the Wilson managers fully re- 
alized that this little-known man, this man who had never before taken 
a conspicuous part in the political battles of the state, had turned im- 
pending defeat from its course and snatched victory where there ap- 
peared no hope for it. The little big man was counted the hero of the 
day. When it came the turn of Essex, former Senator Smith himself, as 
chairman of the delegation, gave hearty endorsement to Wilson, declar- 
uig that he hardly knew the man, but in the interest of the party and 
with a desire to see it win in this crisis he had found Doctor Wilson to 
be the ideal candidate for the party in every respect. It was not a ques- 
tion of personality with him, but a matter of character, and he had tied 
to the Princeton president solely for the purpose of uniting the party and 
serving the best interests of the people of the state. Several other 
speeches of the same tenor were made and the balloting began. 

The Atlantic County vote was given first as 47 for Wilson, but this 
being challenged by one of the delegates, it was changed to 40 , the rest 
being divided between Katzenbach and Wittpenn. There was no further 
interruption till Essex was reported as 228 for Wilson, to which a Har- 
rigan man took exception and challenged its accuracy. Chairman Smith 
had the delegation polled and the Wilson vote was increased to 234, amid 
the protests of the Harrigan men, who declared that some of their thirty- 
five delegates had been denied admittance to the hall. The trouble 
was soon smoothed over, however, and the roll-call finished with some 
few spicy interruptions. The result was as given in the table appear- 
ing on the following page. 

Before Warren County had been reached it was discovered that Wilson 
had enough to name him and the shouts broke loose and became so vo- 
ciferous that the vote of Warren could not be heard, but it was there with 
its 31 for Wilson, clinching the nomination with 40 to spare. And before 
the result could be announced the Middlesex men swung into line, fol- 
lowed swiftly by the other counties and the thing was done. 



20 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

The delegates were all about to rush pell-mell from the hall, when 
Chairman Hardin managed to make himself heard with the announce- 
ment that the candidate had been sent for and would soon appear. It 
took about twenty minutes for Doctor Wilson to run the twelve 

THE ONLY BALLOT 



COUNTIES 



Atlantic 53 

Bergen 83 

Burlington I 48 

Camden 108 

Cape May 

Cumberland 



Essex 

Gloucester.. 

Hudson 

Hunterdon . 

Mercer 

Middlesex. . 
Monmouth. 

Morris 

Ocean 

Passaic 

Salem 

Somerset . . , 

Sussex 

Union 

Warren. . . . 



Totals 141 1 



35 
240 
25 
237 
27 
71 
62 
65 
47 
26 
86 
19 
31 

25 

73 
31 



40 

31 

3 

72 

18 

7 

234 



747i 



373 



74i 



765 



miles from Princeton, and a passage was made for him through 
the dense throng on the stage. He came in smiling, as cool as a 
boy out of the swimming pool, and his appearance was a signal for 
a great huzzah. 



WILSON S SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE 



As the cheers and applause finally subsided and the audience had a 
chance to eye the vigorous-looking, clean-cut, plainly garbed man who 
stood resolutely before them, cool and smiling, President Wilson said, in 
calm, even tones, rising at times to a forceful eloquence: 



NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 21 

" You have conferred upon me a very great honor. I accept the nomina- 
tion you have tendered me with the deepest gratification that you should 
have thought me worthy to lead the Democrats of New Jersey in this 
stirring time of opportunity. Even more than the great honor of your 
nomination, I feel the deep responsibility it imposes upon me; for re- 
sponsibility is proportioned to opportunity. 

"As you know, I did not seek this nomination. It has come to me 
absolutely unsolicited, with the consequence that I shall enter upon the 
duties of the office of Governor, if elected, with absolutely no pledges of 
any kind to prevent me from serving the people of the state with sin- 
gleness of purpose. Not only have no pledges of any kind been given, 
but none have been proposed or desired. In accepting the nomination, 
therefore, I am pledging myself only to the service of the people and the 
party which intends to advance their interests. I cannot but regard 
these circumstances as marking the beginning of a new and more ideal 
era in our politics. Certainly they enhance very greatly the honor you 
have conferred upon me and enlarge the opportunity in equal degree. A 
day of unselfish purpose is always a day of confident hope. 

"I feel confident that the people of the state will accept the promises 
you have made in your platform as made sincerely and with a definite 
purpose to render them effective service. That platform is sound, ex- 
plicit and businesslike. There can be no mistaking what it means; 
and the voters of the state will know at once that promises so definitely 
made are made to be kept, not to be evaded. Your declarations deserve 
and will win their confidence. 

"But we shall keep it only by performance, by achievement, by prov- 
ing our capacity to conduct the administration and reform the legisla- 
tion of the state in the spirit of our declarations, not only, but also with 
the sagacity and firmness of practical men, who not only purpose but do 
what is sensible and effective. It is toward this task of performance 
that my thoughts turn as I think of soliciting the suffrages of my fellow- 
citizens for the great office of Governor of the state. 

"I shall do so with a very profound sense of the difficulty of solving 
new and complicated problems in the right way. I take the three great 
questions before us to be reorganization and economy in administration, 
the equalization of taxation and the control of corporations. There are 
other very important questions that confront us, as they confront all the 
other states of the Union in this day of readjustment: the question of 
the proper liability of employers, for example, the question of corrupt 
practices in elections, the question of conservation; but the three I have 



22 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

named dominate all the rest. It is imperative that we should not only 
master them, but also act upon them, and act very definitely. 

"It is first of all necessary that we should act in the right spirit. And 
the right spirit is not a spirit of hostility. We shall not act either justly 
or wisely if we attack established interests as public enemies. There 
has been too much indictment and too little successful prosecution for 
wrongs done; too much talk and too few practicable suggestions as to 
what is to be done. It is easy to condemn wrong and to fulminate against 
wrongdoers in effective rhetorical phrases ; but that does not bring either 
reform or ease of mind. Reform will come only when we have done some 
careful thinking as to exactly what the things are that are being done in 
contravention of the public interest and as to the most simple, direct, 
and effective way of getting at the men who do them. In a self -governed 
country there is one rule for everybody, and that is the common interest. 
Everything must be squared by that. We can square it only by knowing 
its exact shape and movement. Government is not a warfare of in- 
terests. We shall not gain our ends by heats and bitterness, which make 
it impossible to think either calmly or fairly. Government is a matter 
of common counsel, and every one must come into the consultation with 
the purpose to yield to the general view, the view which seems most 
nearly to correspond with the common interest. If any decline frank 
conference, keep out, hold off, they must take the consequences and 
blame only themselves if they are in the end badly served. There must 
be implacable determination to see the right done, but strong purpose, 
which does not flinch because some must suffer, is perfectly compatible 
with fairness and justice and a clear view of the actual facts. 

" This should be our spirit in the matter of reform, and this our method. 
And in this spirit we should do very definite things. It is obvious even 
to the casual observer that the administration of the state has been un- 
necessarily complicated and elaborated, too many separate commissions 
and boards set up, business methods neglected, money wasted, and a 
state of affairs brought about of which a successful business concern 
would be ashamed. No doubt the increase of state expenditures which 
has marked the last decade has been in part due to a necessary and de- 
sirable increase of function on the part of the state; but it is only too 
evident that no study of economy has been made, and that a careful 
reconsideration and reorganization of the administrative processes of 
the state would result in great savings and in enhanced responsibility on 
the part of those who are entrusted with the important work of govern- 
ment. 



NAME WILSON WITH HURRAH 23 

"Our system of taxation is as ill-digested, as piecemeal and as hap- 
hazard as our system of administration. It cannot be changed suddenly 
or too radically, but many changes should be inaugurated and the whole 
system by degrees reconsidered and altered so as to fit modern economic 
conditions more equitably. Above all, the methods of assessment should 
be changed, in order that inequalities between the taxes of individuals 
and the taxes of corporations, for example, should be entirely eliminated. 
It is not necessary for the maintenance of our modern industrial enter- 
prise that corporations should be indulged or favored in the matter of 
taxation, and it is extremely demoralizing that they should be. Such 
inequalities should be effectually removed by law and by the action of 
the tax-assessing authorities of the state and of the localities. This is a 
matter which will require dispassionate study and action based, not upon 
hostility, but upon the common interest. 

"The question of the control of corporations is a very difficult one, 
upon which no man can speak with confidence ; but some things are plain. 
It is plain, so far as New Jersey is concerned, that we must have a public 
service commission with the amplest powers to oversee and regulate the 
administration of public service corporations throughout the state. We 
have abundant experience elsewhere to guide us in this matter, from the 
admirable commission so long in successful operation in Wisconsin to the 
latest legislation of sister states. We need have no doubt of our right 
course of action here. 

"It is the states, not the Federal authorities, that create corporations. 
The regulation of corporations is the duty of the state much more directly 
than it is the duty of the Gcrvernment of the United States. It is my 
strong hope that New Jersey may lead the way in reform; by scrutinizing 
very carefully the enterprises she consents to incorporate; their make-up, 
their objects, the basis and method of their capitalization, their organiza- 
tion with respect to liabililty to control by the state, their conformity to 
state and Federal statute. This can be done, and done eflfectually. I 
covet for New Jersey the honor of doing it. 

"And so, also, gentlemen, with every other question we face. Let us 
face it in the spirit of service and with the careful, practical sense of men 
of :!ff airs. We shall not ask the voters of the state to lend us their suf- 
frages merely because we call ourselves Democrats, but because we mean 
to serve them like honest and public-spirited men, true Democrats be- 
cause true lovers of the common interest, servants of no special group of 
men or of interests, students of the interest of the people and of the 
country. 



24 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"The future is not for parties 'playing politics/ but for measures 
conceived in the largest spirit, pushed by parties whose leaders are 
statesmen, not demagogues, who love, not their offices, but their duty 
and their opportunity for service. We are witnessing a renaissance of 
public spirit, a reawakening of sober public opinion, a revival of the 
power of the people, the beginning of an age of thoughtful reconstruction 
that makes our thought hark back to the great age in which Democracy 
was set up in America. With the new age we shall show a new spirit. 
We shall serve justice and candor, and all things that make for the right. 
Is not our own ancient party the party disciplined and made ready for 
this great task? Shall we not forget ourselves in making it the instru- 
ment of righteousness for the state and for the nation? " 

Once during the delivery of his short address, which caught the big 
crowd from the very first, Doctor Wilson stopped and said: "But you 
have been here since noon and I have been playing golf and am fresher 
and will not tire you." 

"Go on!" cried the crowd eagerly, and as one man, and when he had 
concluded, there was a great rush to grasp the hand of the man who had 
walked squarely into the hearts of the Jersey Democrats in a trice. The 
personal magnetism of his smile, the light of his gray eyes and the poise of 
his well-shaped head, as he deals with state affairs, will get him the 
plaudits of the multitude in the great campaign soon to begin. 

As the nominee was being conducted to an automobile for his 
Princeton home he was asked: "Shall you resign the presidency of 
Princeton?" 

"I have not considered that matter yet," came the reply, and the car 
whirled him away. 



V 

OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN 

GENUINE ENTHUSIASM GREETS DEMOCRATS' CANDIDATE 
FOR GOVERNOR 

Jersey City, Sept. 28. — In three enormous meetings, bubbling over with 
enthusiasm and showing every mark of unswerving loyalty, Dr. Wood- 
row Wilson, the famous scholar and teacher, was given a great ovation in 
this stronghold of Democracy as the candidate for Governor of New 
Jersey to-night, opening the great campaign. There was no mistaking 
the character and force of the greeting nor of the warmth of the support 
the candidate will get from the people of this part of the state. 

He met roars of enthusiastic applause wherever he appeared, and those 
who had gathered the notion that the head of the great university would 
appear pedantic and stand stifif-necked upon an academical pedestal, from 
which he would talk over the heads of the common people, were forced 
to revise their preconceived estimates. 

He took his audiences into his confidence, pointing out cleverly and 
with distinct force the weaknesses of the modern economic schemes. 
He caught the crowd when he expressed the belief that those who for 
some years had been in charge of the state government had made a sorry 
mess of it, and it was time that some one relieved them of the task and 
tried to better things. 

His appeals to the progressive spirit of his hearers met hearty re- 
sponse, and his suggestion that the people were coming gradually into 
their own in the coimtry evoked expressions of delight, the import of 
which could not be mistaken, and it seemed that all felt the candidate 
was one to lead the people into their own. Speaking of progress. Doctor 
Wilson said much depended upon the action of the one who is supposed 
to be progressing. 

"I can recall the picture of a poor devil of a donkey on a treadmill. 
He keeps on tramping, but never gets anywhere; but," he said, "there's 
a certain elephant that's tramping, too, and how much progress is it 
making? " 

25 



26 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

As Doctor Wilson reached the close of his argument and said: "And 
so I have made my first political appeal," a round of vociferous ap- 
plause interrupted him, and when it died away he said: "I leave my 
case in your hands. I feel that it is a trustworthy jury and with its 
verdict I shall be content." The outburst of applause that followed that 
simple statement was a tremendous and hearty avowal of rendering the 
right verdict in November. 

As in his speech at Trenton accepting the nomination, Doctor Wil- 
son made the control of corporations the keynote of his first campaign 
address, with an earnest and eloquent demand that individual offenders 
shall be dug out and adequately punished that the people, long suffering 
the ills of predatory trusts, shall come into their own. 

Doctor Wilson was met at Newark by State Chairman Nugent and 
whirled to Jersey City in a big touring car, the cool, pleasant air of the 
night relieving him of some of the fatigue of his day at the university. 
When the car pulled up at the club house of the Robert Davis Asso- 
ciation a large number of prominent Democrats were on hand to wel- 
come him. 

The first hand thrust in to grasp his was that of City Collector Robert 
Davis, the little leader of Hudson, who did so much to bring about his 
nomination. The greeting was sincere and cordial, though the candidate 
did loom a trifle over the shining bald head of the leader. County 
Chairman Hennessy, Sheriff Kelly, former State Comptroller William 
C. Heppenheimer, State Assessor Charles E. Hendrickson, and a host of 
other prominent Democrats were there for a handshake and word of 
greeting. 

Doctor Wilson was quickly hurried away in the car with Chairman 
Nugent, followed by a number of other cars, to St. Peter's Hall, six 
blocks away, where the first big meeting of the night was held, and where 
a dense crowd, composed not alone of Democrats, but many well-known 
Republicans, was gathered amid handsome decorations. The meeting 
had been called to order by John D. McGill, former surgeon -general of 
the National Guard, and former Clerk of the Assembly Myron C. Ernst 
was the first speaker. 

Ernst was extolling the candidate when the party from the Davis 
Association filed into the large hall and there arose a shout. The speaker 
was compelled to cut his speech at that point, for the crowd did not want 
to hear anybody else. Doctor Wilson was taken back of the stage, where 
he dropped his overcoat, and stepped out into the electric glare of the 
footlights. 



OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN 27 

It was the signal for a great outbreak of applause. The big audience 
arose, shouted, and cheered and cheered again. Chairman McGill in- 
troduced the candidate as "Your next Governor," and the crowd showed 
its belief in that proposition with another cheer and wild applause, which 
was kept up several minutes, and Doctor Wilson smiled. 

"I am here in an unusual attitude," said Doctor Wilson. "I have 
never yet appeared before an audience asking for anything. I am here 
to-night asking you to vote for me for Governor of New Jersey." 

"You'll be Governor, all right!" shouted a man from a rear seat, and 
the crowd echoed the sentiment mth a hearty will. 

That he won his way with the audience from the start was apparent, 
and he proceeded in his pleasant, easy, argumentative and convincing 
way to explain why he asked for the votes of the people, at one point 
comparing his efforts to going gunning for the corporations. 

" I am sincerely obHged to you for the generous reception you are giving 
me and you have relieved me of great embarrassment," he began. "I 
never before appeared before an audience and asked for anything, and 
now, I find myself in the novel position of asking you to vote for me for 
Governor of New Jersey. I do not want to give you any personal reason 
why you should vote for me. If I were in your place and you were in 
mine I am sure I would be at a loss to give any personal reasons 
whatever. 

"What I want to give you to-night are some reasons why you should be- 
lieve the Democratic party in this state a suitable party to serve you at 
this juncture in your affairs, for, gentlemen, we have come to a point 
where any individual cannot ask for a favor from his fellow-citizens unless 
he can give reasons that will satisfy the public in general that a real 
service would be rendered in return. 

"Some gentlemen on this platform can tell you more specifically than 
I can that I didn't seek the nomination as Governor. They were gener- 
ous enough to offer it to me, and, because they offered it to me, they were 
generous enough to let me understand that I was under no obligations to 
any individual or group of individuals. But I am now asking you to 
vote for me for Governor, and I particularly want to confess to one 
obligation. If you should vote for me for Governor I shall be under 
obligations to you. I shall be obedient to the people of this state, to serve 
them and them only. 

"I wish to be your servant, not because I recognize any particular 
qualifications in myself above those of scores of other men who might 



28 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

have served you just as well, but because I believe to the bottom of my 
heart that the time has come when the Democratic party can be of real 
service to the state of New Jersey and to the nation to which we belong. 

"I believe I can take it for granted here to-night, gentlemen, that you 
want a change of programe. I believe I can take it for granted that 
you believe, as I believe, that those who have been attempting to govern 
this state have in some degree lost their capacity. I am not now in- 
dicting a great party. I hope sincerely that you will never hear me in 
the course of this campaign saying anything against that great body of 
our fellow-citizens who have believed in the principles of the Republican 
party. 

"What I want you to understand me as domg is this. I believe tnat 
that great body of citizens is now led by persons who are not capable of 
realizing in proper public spirit the great principles of the Republican 
party any more than they can win the acquiescence of those persons who 
believe in the great principles of the Democratic party. I believe we 
want a change of government, and what I want you to-night to believe 
is that the Democratic party can give you the kind of change of govern- 
ment that is desired. 

"I fully realized when I asked you to believe that, that I must give 
you sufficient reasons. The reasons I shall give you are modest enough 
reasons. I don't believe that the virtue of public service rests with any 
particular group of men, but I do believe, gentlemen, that, in order to 
say what the public interest is, it is necessary that you should be de- 
tached for some considerable length of time from the temptations of 
office. 

" I believe those who have had the offices of the state in their possession 
for a long time are induced to look upon it as a private gain, rather than a 
public gain. And it is necessary, as the sailor would say, to 'get your 
offing to know what you are about.' I hope you will not think me guilty 
of audacity from what I am about to claim for the Democratic party. 
I think I have no more gall than my fellow-men and I am in the pitiable 
condition of the colored man who went sound asleep in the train with his 
head way back and his mouth wide open. 

"A man near by, who had some powdered quinine in his pocket, went 
up and dusted a lot on the darky's tongue. He slept on quite uncon- 
scious of what happened, and presently closed his mouth and waked up 
with a start, and called in great excitement to the conductor, 'Is there a 
doctor on this train, boss? I done busted my gall.' I have not quite 
busted my gall, but I haven't the audacity to go too far in claiming any 



OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN 29 

particular virtue for any particular party. I simply want you to listen 
to me while I give a candid set of reasons. 

"In the first place, although the Democratic party has first and last 
made some blunders, and, although the same political party has some- 
times wandered this way now and then another, it is the party which has 
longest and most intently followed its connections with the great body 
of the plain people. The Democratic party is the party that does not 
study how to advance particularly, but it has always had principles 
as great and as broad as the great body of the people itself. 

"I have had a great deal to do first and last with the plain people; I 
myself have all my life long been a poor man; I know what it is to be 
careful in living, careful in expense, observant of the conditions that 
affect great bodies of men. Moreover, gentlemen, I know this, that 
nobody who has ever read the pages of history can fail to notice that the 
real wells of strength and sources of renewal are in the great body of the 
people. 

"Every great state is like a great tree; it does not receive its nourish- 
ment and renewal from its fruit and branches; it is received from its 
root and every great state is rooted in that great soil which is made up of 
all, the vast body of unnoticed men, the great masses of toilers, the men 
who never emerged to the general view, the men who go quietly, painfully 
on from day to day, from month to month, from year to year, from gen- 
eration to generation, and sustain by their labor the whole economics of 
a political body. 

"There is the sap of the nation, and the glory of America has been that 
again and again, not rarely, so as to make any singular circumstance, but 
again and again plain men have arisen from the ranks in order to be, 
first, the captains of the things they found immediately to do, and, after 
a while, the captains of the country itself. 

"I found a gentleman to-day with whom I was talking who did not 
know that one of the most celebrated characters of our history gained 
his elevation by arduous effort in just that way, no less a person than 
George Washington. He could not afford more than a common school 
education, had to go out in the rough country that surrounded his home 
to serve as a surveyor, had to endure all the hardships of a frontier and 
struggle for an education, which he gained from practical affairs, and 
never to the end of his life could he spell correctly. 

"This great figure that all the world turns to as the typical figure of 
America was rooted in the common soil of everyday life of the country 
where he lived, and so I say that party which has, so far as I have known 



30 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

it, always felt the keenest, intensest sympathies for the greatest body and 
mass of citizenship, is the party I wish to work with, and I believe in the 
long run can serve the people best. 

"Then there is another reason, a reason which concerns the Republican 
party. It has a very distinguished history, and I would not want to take 
away from its laurels in any respect, but, from circumstances I need not 
stop to narrate to you, the Republican party has, in one circumstance 
and another, identified itself with policies which were meant to sustain 
special interests in this country. 

"I say that, because of changes in economic policies, it has been at 
pains to serve the particular economic interest which has sprung up from 
generation to generation. It has established a partnership which it 
cannot break. By saying it cannot break it I am not suggesting corrupt 
reasons why it cannot break it. It cannot honorably break it. If it 
has tied itself up in its policies with certain dominating interests in the 
country, I leave it to you, is it honorable for you to break it to get the 
votes of a large niunber of citizens? And I say that the Republican party 
has identified itself with particular interests from which it caimot be 
expected to divorce itself in a single generation. 

"You will say that the Democratic party has not done so because it 
has not had the chance. I do not think that is a fair judgment at all; 
but let us assume that is the case. The Democratic party has not 
formed these alliances and the Democratic party is therefore free to 
go in any direction it pleases to go in the service of the country. I 
think for my part that is a very good reason for choosing my own party 
lines. 

"Not that I would have you believe I am just choosing them, for I 
have been a Democrat ever since I was born. I was first a Democrat be- 
cause I was born that way, then I became a Democrat because I believed 
that way, now I am giving you the reasons why I believe that way. I 
want to belong to a party which at present, at any rate, is free to serve 
the country without too many entangling alliances." 

At Grand View Hall, in the Hudson City section, which never wavers 
in its Democracy, and where the best German element of the population 
is predominant, there was the largest of the three meetings, and many 
persons were unable to get into the big auditorium, but were content to 
stand outside and cheer the candidate as he was forced through the 
dense masses. Thoroughly pleased with his great reception. Doctor 
Wilson showed no sign of fatigue, and in the last speech he said: " What's 



OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN 31 

the use? I could talk to you all night — that's my business — and 
there's a lot I could say to you, and I would, but you are weary." 

"No, no! Go on!" cried the crowd. 

The candidate was greatly moved by this mark of approval from the 
huge crowd, but decided to quit, as it was nearly 1 1 o'clock. That he 
was immensely gratified was apparent, for the encouragement of such 
meetings as greeted him are stimulating. Doctor Wilson was taken over 
to New York, where at the Princeton Club he was given an informal re- 
ception. He will go by train to Trenton in the morning, reaching the 
Interstate Fair at i o'clock. He will make no address there, but will 
greet his rival, Vivian M. Lewis, and shake hands with the crowds. 
At night he will speak at Plainfieid, a Republican city in John Kean's 
county of Union. 



VI 

ENTHUSES G. O. P. STRONGHOLD 

WINS HEARTY PLAUDITS FROM GREAT THRONGS IN SENATOR 
KEAN'S own UNION COUNTY 

Plainfield, Sept. 20. — Before an audience that suffocatingly jammed 
Reform Hall to-night, President Woodrow Wilson, in his candidacy 
for Governor of New Jersey, gathered new inspiration. He had had 
a strenuous day and a long automobile trip, with not all the roads 
oiled, and he was somewhat fatigued when he reached the hall. But he 
soon gathered strength and stimulation from the ovation he received at 
the hands of what former Assemblyman S. S. Swackhamer declared to 
be one of the largest and most intelligent audiences he ever had seen in 
this Republican stronghold. 

It was necessary for the committee to form a flying wedge in advance 
to get the candidate up the aisle to the stage in the hall, and hundreds 
of persons were unable to get into the building at all. For that reason 
an overflow meeting was held in the street outside, and "Farmer Orator" 
Martine, of this city, always a favorite in Union County, made a char- 
acteristic speech, full of fire. 

In the hall every inch of space that could be made of use was occupied, 
many climbing into the window ledges, while the newspaper men were 
forced to make a table of a closed upright piano in the orchestra, while 
they ducked their heads to escape a brass railing. 

The candidate's appearance was the signal for a great ovation, and the 
well-dressed, bright-looking women who had a number of the front seats 
led in the applause, which lasted several minutes. W. L. Saunders was 
chairman of the big meeting, in opening which he made a strong speech 
by way of introduction of the candidate, and, as the speaker stepped 
forward he was again accorded a greeting full of energy and undoubted 
sincerity. 

"Your cheering puts me very much at ease," said he, "as that is a 
very essential part of the atmosphere of college life, but I am haunted by 
the fear in this new and dignified attitude in which I find myself that 

32 



ENTHUSES G. O. P. STRONGHOLD 33 

there may be a great many Princeton men among you, and that fear is 
based upon the fact that at Princeton I am best known." 

The sunny smile which accompanied the sally caught the great crowd 
and put the candidate at ease in his approach to the serious side of his 
appeal to the people. The keynote of his address was the necessity for 
reaching corruption by the action of the law, and he declared that there 
is plenty of law now to reach the corruption if only the men can be found 
to enforce it. He paid a tribute to the higher courts of New Jersey 
as incorruptible if only they had a chance to enforce the laws to reach 
and punish the lawbreakers. 

"There never was a time, I am convinced," he said, "when party 
bonds were quite so loose as they are at this moment in this country. 
There never was a time when there was more independent thinking being 
done than is now being done in this country. What is more, there never 
was a time when that thinking more generally was based upon a sym- 
pathy with common needs of all classes of men. I have had men say to 
me, in very recent days, that they were ashamed of the things that they 
themselves had been engaged in doing. They said : ' It seems to us as 
if the scales had fallen from our eyes, and we have at last realized the 
significance of the things we have been doing.' 

"It is an extraordinary moment in public affairs in this country. 
Men are not stopping now to examine party labels; they are beginning to 
examine candidates; they are beginning to examine programes; they are 
beginning to ask whether they can rely upon definite promises; and, if 
they are convinced upon these points, they are ready to thrust aside all 
precedent connections and prepossessions and vote for the man and the 
things they believe in. 

"Don't you see what an extraordinary age of opportimity it is? I 
remember about a year ago I had the privilege of speaking in Plainfield 
to a thoughtful company, not so large as this, on Democratic oppor- 
tunity. I am now hardly saying more than what I said at that time; 
for I believed then, as I believe now, that the Democratic opportunity 
is not opportimity to get office and serve a party, but an opportunity to 
serve a people by carrying out a definite programe. 

"The Democratic party has strayed at different times through many 
devious paths, but it has never forgotten its sympathy with the great 
bodies of toiling men; and it is that sympathy which will sustain and re- 
new any party that continues true to it; for the Democratic party is 
renewed in our day, not by the rise of new men, but by the impulse of a 
new time, which naturally expresses itself in new men. If I were asked 



34 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

to fit the old party cries and shibboleths to the present state of politics 
I should say at once that I did not see how it was possible; and the dif- 
ficulty with the party which I am now trying to play my part in dis- 
placing is that it has stuck to old cries and shibboleths and has not noticed 
the change of the times. 

"Why is it that there is a great insurgent movement in the Republican 
party? It is because great bodies of thoughtful men inside their party 
are beginning to perceive how that party has not by movement but b}' 
inertia, not by new policies but by old, separated itself from the en- 
lightened interests of the present moment. The proof of the Democratic 
argument is the action of these great, powerful bodies of insurgents with- 
in the Republican ranks 

"A gentleman, who is an importer, asked of a Republican friend of 
mine the other day that if the tarifi revision revised downward, and if the 
Payne-Aldrich tariff lowered the duties, why was it that every captain 
of a steamship was sent a wireless message to hurry into port before the 
the act went into operation? You know how the ships scudded to get 
into port. Now, if it is true that the Republican party is still carrying 
the true standards of the interests of this country, why is it that thou- 
sands of its own are rebelling against their master? 

"The reason is that they know that the best traditions of that party 
are being violated, and that, by holding to poKcies which are outworn 
and unstable, the Republican party has forgotten to keep up with the 
movement of the times." 

Speaking of the way in which he has already been misrepresented in 
the campaign, Doctor Wilson said: "I have heard a lot about me since 
the campaign began. Those who know the least about me say the 
most. Those gentlemen are not bound by knowledge either. I am 
told that I once wrote a history of the United States. I know that to 
be true; I did. Now, you have probably heard that I said that no one 
but a college man should be appointed to office, and the two most con- 
spicuous figures in the history of the United States never went to col- 
lege, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and you could go on 
through the list with scores and hundreds of other names." 

In an appeal to the people to bestir themselves and work the change 
they so much need and desire in New Jersey, Doctor Wilson showed true 
courage, for he declared that it would be useless to vote for him alone 
and not elect a Democratic legislature to back him up, for, while that 
situation would make his way easy, he would be utterly helpless to ac- 
complish the things for which he was chosen. " I could shrug my sboul- 



ENTHUSES G. O. P. STRONGHOLD 35 

ders and say: 'Oh, I tried to do the things, but those wicked Repub- 
licans just blocked my way.' " 

After his experiences early in the day at the big fair at Trenton, where 
he shook more hands a minute than he ever had grasped in a week be- 
fore, Doctor Wilson was placed in a large touring car, accompanied by 
Gen. Dennis F. Collins, state committeeman from Union County, and 
Chairman Nugent, and whirled away from this city, with State Com- 
mitteeman Gallagher in another car as pilot. 

He stopped at his Princeton home in the beautiful grounds of the 
university, and he remained long enough to give Mrs. Wilson and the 
INIisses Wilson a word of greeting and was quickly ofif. At Rocky Hill, a 
couple of miles above Princeton, a gang of workmen was employed 
rebuilding a section of the road and the cars came near being stalled. 
President Wilson and the others of the party got out and walked around 
while the drivers sent the machines over piles of dirt and sand. 

Committeeman Gallagher, alert for campaign effect, told one of the 
men to start a cheer for Wilson. The fellow only half caught on and was 
only half impressed. His cheer was like the squeak of a chick, and none 
of the others caught the idea at all. But Gallagher got square on the 
drive through Somerville and Dunellen and on the approach to this city. 
Hundreds of work-people on their way to their homes were on the streets, 
and Gallagher, having had his car shoot ahead, sounded the word along 
the line, and cheers for Wilson resounded again and again, and the modest 
candidate frequently had to acknowledge the tribute with a bow and 
smile. 

The candidate had dinner here with former Mayor W. L. Saunders, a 
prominent and wealthy manufacturer; Leroy J. Ellis, chairman of the 
City Committee; James E. Martine, who received a majority of Demo- 
cratic votes for United States Senator at the recent primaries ; Howard 
Fleming, David Kenny, J. F. Zeniger, and others, spending a very pleas- 
ant hour. 



vn 

SEE IN WILSON GREAT LEADER 

VAST THRONG HEARS DEMOCRACY'S CHAMPION PLEDGE HIM- 
SELF TO people's CAUSE 

Newark, Sept. 30. — A vast audience looked up into the strong face of 
Woodrow Wilson in the Krueger Auditorium to-night, listened with rapt 
attention to his hour's talk, or confession of faith as he called it, and with 
one accord pronounced him a great man. It was the opinion of every 
man and woman of the 3,000 or more, hundreds of whom stood jammed 
together in the aisles and lobbies — and not a few Republicans were 
there — that he was an American destined to lead the children of men 
out of the dark spots into the light of a new day, and the most gracious 
tribute the great crowd paid him was to sit breathless, as did that body 
of men under the mystic spell of Lincoln's historic eloquence of sim- 
plicity in the immortal address at Gettysburg. 

There had been tumults of cheers on his appearance and mild out- 
breaks of applause for the salient points, but at the last, as he pointed 
a finger of his strong right hand into the mystic future and showed the 
present-day duty of mankind to posterity, there was not a movement, 
not a shuffled foot, not a rasping note till a second or two after the clear 
and manful voice had died away, when there came a mighty shout and 
perfect avalanche of applause that sounded like the boom of a great 
cataract. 

President Wilson's confession of faith was his pledge of fidelity to the 
common cause of the people, a set purpose to stand for the things most 
desired for their better welfare, to battle against the special interests, as 
represented in corrupt corporations, to aid in changing the law so that 
the individuals responsible for such corruption can be reached a"d ade- 
quately punished. That was the strong, dominating thought of his 
whole address, though he reached his definite and logical deduction by a 
process of reasoning that appealed to his audience. 

"Ye gods, but that was a great speech," gasped Judge Simon Hahn, 
former Assemblyman from Essex, who occupied one of the boxes. "It 

36 



SEE IN WILSON GREAT LEADER 37 

held me gripped as though I was fascinated and I could hardly move. 
I didn't expect it, and I enjoyed it all the more." 

Former Senator James Smith, the party leader, who brought forth and 
insisted upon Wilson as a candidate for the party to rally around, was 
excited beyond measure, and it is something very rare for him to be 
excited by anything. "Wasn't that great?" he exclaimed as he caught 
his breath amid the din of the shouts and hand-clapping and boot- 
stamping. "The man is going to win, he's going to win, and if the ap- 
pearance of Newark, first city in New Jersey, has aught of prophecy, 
the next Governor of New Jersey, will be the president of Princeton." 

The town was ablaze with fireworks for the candidate when he arrived 
all alone by a Pennsylvania express train from New York nearly an hour 
ahead of time and sat coolly and unostentatiously reading in the station. 
There he was discovered by former Judge Hudspeth, of Hudson, and 
John R, Hardin, who was chairman of the state convention that placed 
him in nomination. They waited till it was time for State Chairman 
Nugent to arrive with the automobile to escort him to the auditorium. 

No special effort was made for a big demonstration or a parade that 
would have taken up half the night. As it was the " Indians," a famous 
political marching club of Essex, and the Third Ward Democratic As- 
sociation, headed by a brass band, formed an escort to the committee, 
to which Mayor Jacob Haussling had been added, and the candidate 
passed through cheering multitudes of men and women gathered on the 
sidewalks. 

It was one more new experience of President Wilson, and he is getting 
a lot these days, and while it was not exactly to his liking as an essen- 
tially modest and unassuming man, he did not demur. It made his 
eye kindle and his cheek burn. 

The pressure for admittance to the great auditorium had caused the 
committee to recognize the necessity of arranging for admission by ticket, 
and such was the clamor for tickets that all were gone early this after- 
noon. In the big audience were the wives of many prominent men of 
the city and Essex County, occup3dng the front rows of chairs and the 
boxes. They had the true spirit of the occasion and roundly applauded 
the telling points made by the eminent speaker. 

The large stage was crowded with men of eminence in social, political, 
business, and professional life, and when, at 8:10 o'clock, the main doors 
were thrown open to those who held no tickets, there was a mighty rush 
like the swash of a giant wave upon the beach, and every available point 
in the house was quickly occupied by eager listeners. Mayor Hauss- 



38 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

ling's local popularity was demonstrated as he came from behind the 
wings a little in advance of the committee, and was given a great re- 
ception. 

In an instant President Wilson appeared, following State Chairman 
Nugent. The crowd caught sight of him and broke into wild cheering 
that seemed never to stop. It would die away for a time, then some 
hearty-lunged fellow way down in the body of the crowd would give 
vent to his enthusiasm afresh, and again there would sweep a great wave 
of demonstrative approval. Police Judge Herr called the meeting to 
order and named Oscar Keen, a well-known and prosperous business 
man of the city, as chairman. 

Chairman Keen said it gave him great pleasure to introduce to the 
audience a man who he was sure would be the next Governor of New 
Jersey, and who would be a worthy successor of such patriotic Governors 
as Joel Parker, George B. McClellan, and others who had shed lustre 
upon the state and the nation. "And when he has served the state 
well," he said, "he will be called to serve the nation as well, for the 
American people are learning of the greatness of the man." 

That fancy pleased the great crowd, but its applause was hushed for a 
moment while the band started up "The Star-Spangled Banner." The 
myriad of electric lights were lowered to a mere glow and from the high 
ceiling there shone out great circles of light in the tri-color of the nation. 
Every man was on his feet, awed by the patriotic air and the light effect, 
so that when the band at length ended the music and the lights again 
glared, a sigh went up as if something new and different in the history of 
political gatherings had been witnessed. 

It was minutes before President Wilson could proceed, but when he 
did he had his auditors with him from the very start. After a word of 
thanks for the splendid ovation, which seemed to deeply move him, he 
said: 

"As I was coming to this meeting and passing through the crowds that 
lined the sidewalks I kept asking myself what is it that draws these peo- 
ple away from their homes?" "Wilson," yelled a voice that started the 
applause again. "I would feel very much complimented if I could be- 
lieve that, but that was not the answer that came into my mind," he 
went on. "Men do not flock after a man they do not personally know 
unless they believe that he stands for something in particular, and one 
of the most delightful and inspiring things about the American people is 
that they believe in causes, tiey believe in principles and they believe 



SEE IN WILSON GREAT LEADER 39 

in ideas, and they flock after a man who they hope and believe represents 
those things. 

"These are not demonstrations of honor to an individual; they are 
manifestations of a very stirring impulse on the part of the people of this 
city and state with regard to the political affairs that lie immediately 
ahead of them. You want from me, I am sure, gentlemen, a confession 
of faith, and I am ready to make it. 

"I hope that you have all read the very sound and explicit platform 
put forth by the Democratic convention that did me the honor to nomi- 
nate me, and I say to you now as I said to them that I stand absolutely 
without any equivocation for every plank in that platform. I also stand 
for some more planks that are not in the platform, because it is impos- 
sible for a body of men to exhaust in any statement of principles the sub- 
jects which really lie at the very bottom of all political thought and wel- 
fare in every American community. 

"There is one plank I would have liked to have seen in that platform. 
I do not pretend to criticise anybody who had any part in the making of 
that platform because it is not there. But my own thought would be 
this: 

"I am very proud of being a citizen of the state of New Jersey and I 
am very proud of New Jersey; and I wish there were nothing to be sorry 
for in connection with her very recent political practice. And yet there 
is something to be sorry for. New Jersey has earned a certain reputation 
throughout this country because of her too great and hospitable care of 
any or all corporations, good or bad, and I wish with all my heart that 
the citizens of this state might interest their legislature to the extent of 
putting the law of incorporation upon another footing, so that the men 
who come to New Jersey, seeking the privilege to do business in the way 
of corporations, will be obliged to go through a severe scrutiny as to the 
purposes of the corporations. 

"I believe that the great bodies of the people have the right of direct 
nomination for office. I believe that the people of this state are entitled 
to a public service commission which has full power to regulate rates. I 
believe it would be wise to do what New Jersey has already once done, 
pass an act in favor of a constitutional amendment allowing the people 
cO vote directly for their Senators." 

The speaker then enumerated some other things for which he stood, 
one of which was direct primaries for nomination of all public oflficere. 
Proceeding, he said: 



40 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"We are in the presence of a new organization of society. We are 
eagerly bent on fitting that new organization, as we did once fit the old 
organization, to the happiness and prosperity of the great body of citi- 
zens; for we are conscious that that order of society does not fit and 
provide the convenience of happiness or prosperity of the average man. 
We are not legislating in this country for exceptional men, we are not 
legislating for the rich, we are not legislating for the poor, we are not 
legislating for any class. We are trying to find out what is for the com- 
mon interests of every living soul, providing he live honestly and strive 
honorably in the profession to which he has devoted himself. 

"America does not consist of the men who get their names in the 
newspapers; America does not consist politically of the men who set 
themselves to be political leaders; America does consist of the men who 
talk and speak for her — and they are important only so far as they speak 
for that great voiceless multitude of men who constitute the great body 
and the saving force of the nation. Nobody who cannot speak of the 
common thought, who cannot move the common impulse, is any man to 
speak for America, or for any of her future purposes. 

" So we seek to conform all the policies of this country to this great 
body of American citizens, the men who go about their business every 
day, the men who toil from morning to night, the men who go home 
tired in the evenings, too tired sometimes to think about things some- 
times, the men who are carrying on that thing that we are so proud of. 

"You know how it thrills our blood sometimes to see how all the 
nations of the earth wait to see what America is going to do, who with 
her power, her physical power, her enormous resources, her enormous 
wealth, her power to levy innumerable armies and build up armaments 
which might conquer the world. And the nations hold their breath to 
see what this still young country will do with her young, unspoiled 
strength, and we are proud that we are strong. 

"But what has made us strong? The toil of millions of men, the toil 
of men who do not boast, who are inconspicuous, but who live their lives 
humbly from day to day, this great body of workers, this great body of 
toilers, constitute the might of America. The manifest duty of all 
statesmanship, therefore, is to see that this great body of men who con- 
stitute the strength of America are properly dealt with by the laws and 
properly nurtured and taken care of by the policy of the country. 

One of the great hits of the speech was when the speaker said, referring 
to the punishment of the corporations: 

"I was bred a lawyer, but I cannot indict a whole nation. I can in- 



SEE IN WILSON GREAT LEADER 41 

diet one man at a time, though, and I want the law to do it with. Then 
there are some men who I admit it would be a great pleasure to indict 
upon some proper occasion. I may name them just for the pleasure of 
naming them and then put it up to them whether they will stand trial 
or not, but I am not going to indict my fellow-citizens who are conducting 
business on the modern method of conducting business, I am not going 
to utter invective against the modern instrumentalities of business, but 
to discuss the improper and unfortunate uses to which these instrumen- 
talities have been put. Everything comes down to that." 

Getting down to the tariff question and its nefarious operations, he 
made another great hit when he said: 

"What's the matter with the tariff? That is a long story and there is 
a great deal the matter with it. If you go through the tariff schedule 
you will find some nigger in every woodpile, some little word put into 
almost every clause of the act which is lining somebody's pocket with 
money, but that is too long a story and too complicated for one evening. 
The main trouble is that it has been an ambush, a cover, a forest in which 
all the men who wanted to get illegitimate profit have been able to get it. 

"So that the tariff question is not a question of individual manipula- 
tion, but a question of what has been exemplified in building up the Sugar 
Trust, in building up the American Tobacco Company, what part the 
tariff has had in building up this, that and the other concern, which could 
not have been built up in that fashion if it had not been for the protection 
afforded by that legislation. I am not objecting to the size of these 
enterprises. Nothing is big enough to scare me. I am not objecting to 
the extent of the business, and, last of all, I am not objecting to people 
getting rich from conducting business with prudence, but what I am 
objecting to is that the Government should give them exceptional ad- 
vantages, which enables them to succeed and does not put them on the 
same footing as other people. 

"Of course, size has something to do with that. I think those great 
touring cars, for example, which are labelled 'Seeing New York,' are too 
big for the streets. You have to walk almost around the block to get 
out of the way of them, and size has a great deal to do with the trouble 
if you are trying to get out of the way. But I have no objection on that 
account to the ordinary automobile properly handled, by a man of con- 
science, who is also a gentleman. 

"Many of the people I see handling automobiles handle them as if 
they had neither conscience nor learning. I have no objection to the 
size and beauty and power of the automobile. I am interested, however, 



42 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

iu the size and conscience of the men who handle them, and what I ob- 
ject to is that some of the corporation men are taking joy rides in their 
corporations. 

"You know what men do when they have a joy ride; they sometimes 
have the time of their lives, and sometimes, fortunately, the last time of 
their lives. Now these wretched things are taking joy rides in which 
they don't kill the people that are riding in them, but they kill the people 
they run over, so that the tariff has to do with corporations. Corpora- 
tions have to do also with all those things I have discussed in the plat- 
form of our party." 

President Wilson injected bright bits of humor into the address which 
pleased the crowd mightily. "I was asked the other day why I did not 
give the Republican party fits," said he with a merry twinkle. "Now, 
the Republican party is composed of a very large body of my fellow- 
citizens, and I cannot give my fellow-citizens fits. I can only tell them 
that their leaders are betraying them, have been leading them wrong 
and, the fact is, a large body of the party itself is telling them the same 
thing." 

Later on he said: "The Republican party has made a bad mess of it; 
it is bankrupt and we are to be made its receivers. And we will not 
have to get an order of the court for that purpose; we will leave it to the 
jury." 

It was the stirring peroration of the speaker, however, that so deeply 
moved the great assemblage, as with firm, clear, resonant voice he looked 
his hearers directly in the eyes and said with simple but effective elo- 
quence: 

"Why should a man try to persuade his fellow-citizens that he is a 
fit man to serve them? It is a very immodest part to take. No man 
with any sense of propriety, no man with any sense of any kind, could 
stand up and pose as the savior of his fellow-citizens. He would go 
away with a permanent bad taste in his mouth for having made such an 
unfathomable ass of himself. But it is perfectly worthy and perfectly 
dignified to stand up and say, 'Gentlemen, let us all get together and 
try to understand our common interest,' because we are not working for 
to-day, we are not working for our own interest, we are all going to pass 
away. 

"But think of what is involved. Here are the traditions and the fame 
and the prosperity and the purity and the peace of a great nation in- 
volved. For the time being we are that nation; but the generations 
that are behind us are pointing us forward to the path and saying, 



SEE IN WILSON GREAT LEADER 43 

' Remember the great traditions of the American people,' And all those 
unborn children that will constitute the generations that are ahead of us 
will look back to us, either as to those who serve them or as those who 
betrayed them. Will any man in such circumstances think it worthy 
to stand and not try to do what is possible in so great a cause, to save a 
country, to purify a policy, to set up vast reforms which will increase 
the happiness of mankind? God forbid that I should be either daunted 
or turned away from a great task like that." 

The shout of approval that came after a second's breathless hesitation 
could not be mistaken for anything save that here was a body of thinking 
people who had been convinced. 



vin 

MEN OF MONMOUTH WARM TO HIM 

CANDIDATE PLAINLY LAYS BEFORE THEM FACTS OF REPUBLICAN 
party's MISRULE 

Long Branch, Oct. i. — In the Beach Casino to-night, within sound 
of the waves of the Atlantic, Woodrow Wilson brilliantly closed the first 
week of his campaign for Governor. His address to the great assemblage 
was another splendid efifort and an appeal to the patriotic hearts of real 
Americans to rise as did the builders of the nation to bring the things so 
much desired for their welfare, moral and physical. The response to his 
appeal was a mark of approval which could not be misconstrued. 

The Democratic standard-bearer made two speeches to-day, appearing 
this afternoon at the close of the Third district Democratic convention at 
Red Bank, where he was given a loud and vociferous welcome and where 
he punched metaphoric holes in the tariff system, with especial jabs at 
the Repubhcan alliance with the powerful Trusts which fatten through 
the system. To-night he gave the stand-pat Repubhcans a few gentle 
taps just as reminders that they were not the salt of the earth. 

At all the meetings the candidate thus far has held there has been a 
great outpouring of the thinking people, who have shown their approval 
of the attitude he takes, and who have shown every mark of approbation 
of his worth as a new leader of men, the embodiment of that spirit which 
built the nation out of the tmrest of oppression, and the end of the first 
week of his battle gives indication that he has aroused the people. "If 
you don't move you will rot," he declares, driving home one point, "or 
be crushed by those who do move." 

The Beach Casino is a large structure, seating 1500 persons, and it was 
crowded, as was the deep and broad stage, when the candidate appeared, 
and in the audience were many women, who were intently interested in 
all the speaker said during the 45 minutes he spoke. 

Thomas A. Fahy was chairman of the meeting, and in opening it de- 
clared that the present campaign not only was important in that it meant 
the election of a new Congress, but that it also meant the election of 



MEN OF MONMOUTH WARM TO HIM 45 

a Governor of New Jersey who would be the next President of the United 
States, whereat the audience shouted its hearty approval. 

"In my college life," said President Wilson, "it has been my part to 
instruct the young gentlemen that it is the duty of every citizen to serve 
the public when called upon so to do. I never believed my bluff would 
be called, but it was, and so I am going to do my part with all the earnest- 
ness and energy at my command." 

From that he went forward with a clear-lined and logical deduction 
of what was necessary for the people to do to get back the nation into the 
form in which the fathers left it as a heritage, instead of a country ruled 
by the powers of the corporate interests. He declared that it was the 
fault of the Republican leaders that that party had been allowed to drift 
into the control of the special interests, and, said he, their connections 
and prejudices make them unable to see the general interests of the 
whole country. 

It was another of the strenuous days for the candidate, but he ap- 
peared to be already seasoned to it, and to-night was in his happiest vein. 
Instead of going over to Princeton from the great Newark demonstration 
last night he spent the night with friends in New York. There he was 
met this morning by the chauffeur, who so far has driven him on all his 
trips, and brought over to Newark, where he left with Chairman Nugent 
at 1.30 o'clock, counselling the chauffeur to drive slowly, and taking the 
forward seat to get the benefit of the wind shield. 

The car was passing along one of the streets of lower Newark, slowing 
down at a railroad crossing, when somebody passed the word that Wood- 
row Wilson was in the car. "Which is Wilson," asked a small boy, 
approaching timidly and looking at the two men. "There he is," said 
Chairman Nugent. Eying the candidate for an instant, he said, with 
indignation punctuating his voice: "Ah, say, why don't you get a 
better football team? " Doctor Wilson enjoyed the scorn immensely. 

Back of his car came another bearing "Billy" Devereux, the untiring 
secretary of the State Committee, and, while it was much the faster car, 
and "Billy" desired very much to act as pilot for the party, Doctor 
Wilson shut down on the proposition. He did not care to be announced 
to the gaping populace, and he did not want the dust of a car ahead, for 
he wanted to keep the clear, even voice that so charms and convinces the 
crowds that gather to hear him. 

Down through the prettiest parts of Elizabeth and Roselle, in Union 
County, across to Woodbridge and thence to Perth Amboy, in Middlesex, 
on roads that might have been better, the candidate was whirled to Key- 



46 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

port, in old Monmouth County, where Democrats and Republicans are 
so intrinsically similar that no one ever can tell what is going to happen 
at the polls. 

All unheralded the candidate entered Red Bank, where the Third dis- 
trict Congressional convention had just finished its work of nominating 
Thomas J. Scully, Mayor of South Amboy, for Congress, with unusual 
enthusiasm. Doctor Wilson was dropped off at the Globe Hotel to 
scrape off some of the accumulated dust, and in a trice prominent Demo- 
crats of Monmouth popped up from everywhere, led by David S. Crater, 
who has been Surrogate so long that the oldest inhabitant can't remember 
the name of his predecessor. They warmly greeted the candidate and 
escorted him to Frick's Lyceum. 

There the Congressional convention had just concluded, and the big 
crowd, in which appeared the bronzed faces of many well-to-do farmers 
and watermen, was listening with rapt attention to a stirring address by 
former Mayor Frank S. Katzenbach, Jr., a summer resident of Mon- 
mouth, who came so near being in Doctor Wilson's shoes. 

Katzenbach was hammering home some hard facts about the short- 
comings of the last legislature, with special reference to the failure of the 
Employers' Liability bill to accomplish the object for which it was ui- 
tended, when the committee arrived at the entrance with the candidate 
and the speaker perceived him. He cut his address short, paid a graceful 
tribute to the character and worth of the candidate and announced his 
arrival. 

As Doctor Wilson walked down the side aisle to the stage the big 
audience, in which, as usual with Wilson audiences, there were many 
handsome women, arose and cheered and clapped, giving warm welcome 
to the candidate. In the rather small house he stood pretty close to his 
auditors, and as he stepped forward the brass band, which had enlivened 
the convention, struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner," which brought 
forth cheers, and it was some minutes before he could proceed. 

"I have one pleasure in being late," he said, "and that is that it af- 
forded you an opportunity of hearing my friend Mr. Katzenbach." His 
speech was especially directed to the nefarious tariff of the Republican 
regime, which he attacked with strong and at times witty thrusts, but he 
caught his audience time and again with a line of subtle humor that 
showed he was not all the bookish pedant. 

"I have nothing personal against the Republican party. I had the 
pleasure the other day of meeting my Republican opponent at the great 



MEN OF MONMOUTH WARM TO HIM 47 

Trenton Fair, merely for exhibition purposes. I was pleased with him 
and I am sure he is a very estimable gentleman. I have been informed 
that he has a good deal the best of me in looks. Now, it is not always 
the useful horse that is most beautiful. If I had a big load to be drawn 
some distance I should select one of those big, shaggy kind of horses, not 
much for beauty, but strong of pull." 

The farmers in the audience were quick to grasp that point and they 
led the wave of hearty applause it evoked. He continued: 

''What is the battle we are fighting? What are we fighting for? Well, 
you know; there has been a long history of administration of the Re- 
pubUcan party in this state and all over the country; not, I want always 
to say, because the Republican voters were less public-spirited and pa- 
triotic than the Democratic voters, but because the Republican leaders 
have been to blame for the new policies they have performed. 

"You know the traditional history of the Republican party, and the 
trouble is that they have become so traditional that the time has come 
when the only thing they can do is to stand pat. They have so lost their 
originality and the power of adaptation that they have nothing new to- 
day, and all the older men, whom I need not name, who have controlled 
their party in the last few years, are standing still. 

"Now, we are not standing still and we cannot stand still. If these 
gentlemen do not know that the country is moving and moving fast, it is 
time that they wake up and find out. We cannot stand still. You know 
that one branch of the Republican party is now fighting for control of this 
State. There are two branches of the Republican party in this state, 
but one branch is not Republican to hurt and the other branch is so in- 
tensely Republican that it has forgotten the movement of the calendar 
and doesn't know what year it is. It is still moving along in those 
halcyon days when the high tariff was invented, the time when the 
country supposed that the Democratic party stood for reaction and 
chaos. 

"But those days have long gone by; we have proved that the Demo- 
cratic party has moved faster and in a better direction than the Republi- 
can party, so we are gathered here to discuss this simple question and the 
things we desire done. It is not a personal question, not a question of 
personal merits of the candidates. Indeed, if it was a discussion of the 
personal merits of the candidates I could not discuss the matter. But it 
is a question on what direction you want to go, what you want to do, and 



48 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

who can give you what you want most certainly under the circumstances 
that exist in the country to-day." 

Proceeding to riddle the Republican party's attitude toward the tariff, 
he said: 

"I have always been opposed to the policy of protection, but, b 
that as it may, there are some things that may be said in favor of tb 
protective policy, and, historically speaking, the protective tariff has noi 
in the past very greatly increased the cost of living. But in recent years 
and months it has greatly increased the cost of living. Why? Because 
it is a protective policy? No, not especially that, but because the wall 
of protection has been so high that the great domestic industries have 
been able to form great combinations behind them, knowing that any- 
body with whom they could not come to an understanding would break 
in and hurt the game, and so they have been able to limit the product 
and increase the price. 

"Now look at what the Republican party has done in the so-called 
revision of the tariff. The only thing that it has done is to change the 
tariff, and that is the only way they have revised the tariff. It is like 
the woman who, when she changes her good overdress, works the seams 
different so that she has, as she thinks, revised the dress; but it is the 
same old dress, the domestic circle at any rate is not deceived by it. 

"Now this is the same old tariff adjusted, not in accordance with the 
demands of the nation, not at all. I beUeve that the tariff to-day was 
made in Rhode Island and that there is a certain gentleman whose name 
is well known, who lives in Illinois, who cooperated in standardizing this 
fashion. So it is not the American people, but it is the dictates of the 
pattern bureau that patterns the fashion of the tariff; and what are the 
standards of these gentlemen in Rhode Island and Illinois? 

"Do you know that the Republican party undertakes to guarantee 
profits to the industries of this country? Do you know what that means? 
It means that the poorest factories are drawn in with the best, that the 
least economically managed factories are united with the most economi- 
cally managed, and that a level is struck so they will all make a profit. 
And that is another premium offered in this country on the system 
these gentlemen have fashioned. 

"I was interested, for example, not personally, though I am to a 
slight extent interested in the hosiery scale. We all know that man's 
interest in that is very brief, but I was interested because I had a number 




KEPKESEXTATIVE THOMAS J. SCULLY 



MEN OF MONMOUTH WARM TO HIM 49 

of friends engaged in manufacturing stockings and half hose of all qual- 
ities, all of which I don't know much about, and there was one concern 
that had been looking forward to a probable revision of the tariff and 
got its business in such shape that it could afford to have free trade under 

i ordinary conditions, because they had the sense to take their employees 
in to share the profits of the business and there were profits to share. 

"Now these gentlemen were ready to see the duty taken off of stock- 
ings because they had had the sense to get ready for it, but the other men 
were not because that tariff war wall was there and they knew their 
profits would be cut off because they could not make stockings as good 
as they could make them in Germany. That's the reason. 

"One summer when I was abroad, for example, I got some socks in the 
town of Aberdeen, Scotland, and these miserable things never yet have 
worn out. I am tired of them, the color don't suit me to begin with, but 
the American socks I have bought within the time have worn out so fast 
that the household is constantly employed in darning them. Now that 
is not because Americans do not know how to make stockings and have 

i not the stuff to make them of, but because they do not have to make 
that sort because of the policy of the country. That is the reason. 

"You know that the farmer has been made to take care of himself; he 
was abundantly able and he has always taken care of himself. The other 
industries of the country have been assured of the profits and the farmer 
has been helping to assure the profits of the other fellow. I say that there 
was enough and to spare and they could do it, but the real stuff upon 
which this country has prospered is its great soil and the intelligent men 
who till it, and the great advantage of this country has been that its 
soil was fertile and that it was inexhaustible in its other sources. 

; "I do not begrudge the assistance, because I believe in my heart, 
opposed though I am to the protective system now, that the protective 

I system was necessary. It was necessary to build up those infant in- 
dustries that have met with such a coarse growth and have grown to such 
eminent manhood. We have at last come to the point that we must ask 
ourselves, have we had enough of this? Are you going to stand about 

I and forget all about these changes? Are we going to alter the poHcy? 

! Are we going to get things done upon a business basis and serve the 
common interests of every one?" 

I 

Proceeding to snow that it will be necessary to go after the corrupt 
combinations and corporations. Doctor Wilson said: "You know the 
story of the Irishman who went to digging a hole and he was asked, 



5° 



A PEOPLE AWAKENED 



Tat, what are you doing? Digging a hole?' and he replied, 'No, sir, 
I am digging the earth and leaving the hole.' It is also like the same 
Irishman that was digging around the wall of a house and was asked, 
'Pat, what are you doing?' and he answered, 'Faith, and I am letting the 
dark out of the cellar.' 

" Now that's exactly what we want to do, let the dark out of the cellar. 
We want to discover the persons who are responsible and make them 
know that this country is for the people, and not fof a party standing for 
corporations and trusts. Now that can be done. You say how? Well, 
I know lawyers by the score who know how. They haven't yet said how, 
but they know exactly what is going on and they can produce the man. 
Now let us give our lawyers some inducement to help us out with their 
advice. 

"I once asked a learned judge if the object of the courts was to do 
justice, and he said, 'God forbid. The object of the courts is to follow 
precedent.' He said that if the object was to do justice they would get 
in the most terrible confusion, so they have to follow the lines that have 
been laid down. Now there is a great deal to be said on that. There- 
fore, in order to break it up you must better it from the outside, not from 
the inside. That is the reason we have had to have so much legislation 
to alter the law and the jury to determine the alteration of the law." 

One of the somewhat startUng hits of the speech was this: "You 
know the great Italian writer, Dante, wrote a great poem on Hell, and 
in it he described a great many persons that were there, but the interest- 
ing part of it was that he described a great many persons as already in 
Hell who were yet Uving, thus illustrating what I have ever believed to 
be true, that all a man's Hell is with him while he lives. 

"I cannot prove that the Democratic party would have done something 
if it had the power because it has not been in power, but I don't have to 
prove that the Republican party has done it, because everybody knows it. 
Do you want to stand pat? Do you want to stand still? Do you want 
all the things that have been safeguarded against or do you want to do 
what is so characteristic of the American people, to turn bravely about? " 

After the meeting the candidate and others were whirled away over the 
famous Rumson road to Port au Peck, on Pleasure Bay, where a shore 
dinner was served. Mr. Wilson enjoyed the softshell clams, but he drew 
the line at broiled Hve lobster. It was not conducive to n^ental con- 
servation, he guessed. When a toast was drunk to his health and success 
he said: "I will be humane; I will not inflict you with another speech." 



DC 

BIG LEAD IN RACE 

PEOPLE WHO HAVE HEARD CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR SURE HE 
IS BORN TO ACHIEVE 

Trenton, Oct. 2. — It isn't hard to discover a large bunch of Republi- 
cans who are frightened by the way the campaign is opening. It isn't 
diflttcult to discover the reason, either. Most of the party managers have 
kept in close touch with the movements and utterances of Woodrow 
Wilson, and as they find how fast he is growing they gasp. There is no 
mistaking that unpleasant fact. 

"Oh, he won't last," said one of the party managers the other day, 
seeking some source of consolation, but it was apparent that he had not 
much faith in his own estimate. He was apparently basing his idea 
apon the fast pace set by the head of Princeton in the race already well 
inder way, and he was trying to believe that later, when Lewis gets on the 
:rack, there will be a clear way for him v.dth Wilson winded and lost in 
:he stretch. 

But those who have had opportunity to watch the candidate of the 
Democrats in the two weeks since the nomination are deeply impressed 
\^ith his staying quaUties and are convinced that he will not only last, but 
lold his lead to the end of the running. He has five weeks yet to go, is 
iown for many more of the stirring addresses he has been making, and his 
:losest friends and admirers have no hesitation in declaring that a man 
)f his learning, his wide mental grasp, his deep-set purpose, his undoubted 
incerity and patriotism must continue to gather strength to the very 
jmd. His audiences are not only entertained by his manner, his deep, 
Sympathetic voice and quiet, unassuming demeanor, but are convinced 
|)f his mental poise and the fact that his message rings true. Thus, they 
jlepart from the place of meeting sure that they have come upon a man 
born to lead his fellows in thought and action, the sort of man that in 
[.he days of Colonial oppression sprang into the breach and delivered the 
Deople by sheer force. 

One looking upon Woodrow Wilson as he gazes with strong intelligence 
.md understanding into the faces of his attentive audiences and tries in 



52 



A PEOPLE AWAKENED 



the most straightforward, clear-cut English to drive home the truth of 
which his very soul seems to be possessed cannot help be completely won 
to his line of thought. Add to that, then, the fact that the people are 
restless and displeased with existing conditions, ready to turn tearfully 
to the man whom they believe to be the one sent for their deUverance, 
and they find him, as they believe, and the result can be guessed. 
Whether he is going to "last" is not a question with those who are 
close to him. They are firm in the conviction that he is only just 
getting a fair start for the real trial of strength. 

So far Doctor Wilson has but passed over the surface of the topics he 
evidently intends to enlarge upon and open up as he proceeds. He does 
not hesitate to say that he has not been in very close touch with the 
business affairs of the state, but he is learning a lot and expects to learn 
more. Thus far he has but referred in the gentlest manner to the im- 
mense expense of maintaining the state government, laying no censure 
upon any man, nor pointing the accusing finger. He is charitable enougt 
to say that they do not know any better, but that if it were possible foi 
them to get on the outside and cast an unbiased eye over the prosped 
they would undoubtedly see the weakness of their position. He believe; 
that the state's affairs can be and ought to be conducted upon a mucl 
more businesslike and economical basis, with all regard for the pro 
digious effort necessary for bringing about a reform of that magnitude. 

Doctor Wilson holds the Republicans responsible for conditions whicl 
arouse the most criticisms from the common people, but he is broa( 
enough to fix the blame upon leaders whom the people have trusted im 
plicitly and who have betrayed the trust through a blind and stunted viev, 
of life. He thinks they can be shown the error, but he is convinced tha 
the way to show them is through the ballot-box. Never a word of bitinj 
criticism escapes him. Never does he make use of the little trickery o 
the stump-speaker to stir the outer and hysterical forms of applause 
He gets close to the hearts of the people by a direct appeal to thei 
thought and intelligence. Thus he goes about the state, and th ' 
people who flock to hear him go away feeling better and uplifted ano 
benefited, and how a man like that is going to lose any of the strengt! 
with which he started is difl&cult to imagine. 

Of course, the Republican orators will be getting out in a few days an( 
they will hammer the record of the Democrats and "point with pride" t< 
the accompUshments of the administrations of the several Governors o^ 
their party, but they are under a heavy handicap. They have a bad star 
and the inside track is already occupied. 



BIG LEAD IN RACE 53 

Doctor Wilson's tour this week will carry him into the "enemy's 
:ountry" of South Jersey, where it is expected that big majorities will be 
rolled up for Lewis, under the leadership of former Assessor Baird and his 
ieutenants, and a deal of interest is attached to the character of the 
gatherings the Democratic candidate will attract. Beginning to-morrow 
light with Trenton — where there was such strong sentiment for the 
lomination of former Mayor Katzenbach — he will invade the dis- 
:inctly agricultural counties of Gloucester, Burlington, Cumberland, and 
"ape May, where it is not likely that he will have such immense audiences 
is have so far appeared in the North Jersey sections where he was strong- 
est, but reports that reach the campaign managers are to the effect that 
le will get enthusiastic receptions all along the Une and that South 
fersey is not apt to "deliver the goods" the G. O. P. managers expect 
5fit. 

In the first place the bitter factional fights under way in most of the 
:ounties cannot be patched up before election day. In Cumberland, 
:or instance, it is said that a very large body of Republicans will not only 
:ut the county ticket, but will go in large numbers to Wilson and Mayor 
Bampton, who has twice been elected Mayor of Bridgeton, despite its 
strong Republican leanings for Congress. Then there is Gloucester, 
ivhere the old Loudenslager-Avis feud still rankles and where, it is said, 
^Congressman Loudenslager and Assembly Candidate Hallock will be 
inmercifully cut at the polls. 

Then there is the deep-seated dissatisfaction with the renomin- 
ition of "Uncle John" Gardener even in his own county of Atlantic, 
ivhere the machine seems so strongly entrenched as to be able to 
'pull of!" most any old thing in poHtics, and there appear other 
reasons for the fright that pervades the Republican lines besides the 
:remendous lead Wilson has gained in the race for the Governorship of 
:he state. 

I If the factional battles continue there is the dread peril of the loss of 
the legislature when there is a United States Senator to elect, and that 
iieans so many heartaches that few of the rank and file dare look the 
bossibility in the face. Nor is the United States Senatorial situation 
idjusted in any satisfactory manner. Former Governor Murphy has 
'retired as state chairman with more or less grace and he is believed to be 
out of the running for Senator since he declared that he would favor the 
-nan who got the majority of the primary vote. That will probably 
iTiean the loss of a large slice of what might otherwise have been a gener- 
ous contribution upon Collector Garrison's collection plate. "Jawn" 



54 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Kean is dead out of the race, as everybody seems to understand save 
"Jawn," and that means another slash in the financial aspect of the 
situation — when he awakes. Former Assessor Baird will be ready 
when the plate comes aroimd, no doubt, but former Governor Stokes, 
who got the primary votes, can't do much in that line, and altogether it 
looks as though "grease" for the wheels will be somewhat scarce. And 
Wilson miles ahead! 



PLEDGES TO WAKEN JERSEY 

OFFERS PEOPLE PARTNERSHIP IN ADMINISTRATION IF THEY ELECT 
HIM GOVERNOR 

Trenton, Oct. 3. — In his home county of Mercer, a few miles from 
the great university over which he presides with such distinction and 
honor, Woodrow Wilson addressed a great mass of his fellow-citizens 
in the Taylor Opera House to-night. It was a sympathetic and ap- 
preciative audience from the start, and while two other speakers pre- 
ceded him, it remained patiently till long after 9 o'clock to Hsten to his 
message, and its appreciation was manifested in no uncertain sound. 

The candidate, chosen by his party from other parts of the state when 
those of his own county favored another as the standard-bearer, was 
made to feel that he could confidently count upon the loyal support of 
the Democrats of Mercer, which former Mayor Katzenbach, as chair- 
man of the big meeting, bespoke him. 

At the outset Mr. Wilson confessed he had been rather feeling his 
way as a novice in the game. 

"Last week," said he with a merry twinkle, "I was trying myself out, 
seeing how eloquent I was. This week, I propose to get down to 
business." 

And he did get down to business. He declared with all the earnest- 
ness he could master that if elected Governor he would be bound to 
conduct the office in the whole interest of the people of New Jersey, free 
from all political trammels, under no obligations or pledges, or promises 
to the people who brought about his nomination. This, it was evident, 
was intended as a reply to those critics who have declared that as Gov- 
ernor Mr. Wilson would be forced to hearken to the demands of the 
horde of office-seekers backed by the party gang. His assurance of 
freedom, therefore, came as a refreshing light, as a dash of cool, pure air 
in the dark pohtical subways, and it pleased the great mass of people 
immensely. 

Again, when the candidate declared that a corrupt practices act must 

55 



56 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

be passed, because corruption has crept into and threatened the de- 
struction of the body politic, that poHtical parties must give full and 
complete account of their campaign receipts and expenditures and stop 
levying assessments upon the holders of public ofl5ce, he was given such 
emphatic mark of approval as showed that he had struck a popular 
chord. Here in Mercer, in fact, the Democrats have for some years been 
engaged in a steady effort to cleanse politics and put a stop to corruption 
at the ballot-box. 

He started a lead into one of the state departments which promises to 
develop a mine of information for the public. He expressed the con- 
viction that the country's present insurgent wave was nothing more nor 
less than a movement of the people to shake off the influences to which 
they now object, and they are turning to the Democrats for deliverance. 
He promised to use his best powers toward securing a businesslike 
administration of the state's affairs and, as at all his previous meetings, he 
appealed to the patriotic impulses of the people to aid him in his efforts. 

The big theatre, scene of many great political gatherings, and in which 
nearly every candidate for Governor of both parties has been placed in 
nomination for a quarter of a century, was filled by 7.45 o'clock, and 
hundreds who came late were forced to stand; but they did not murmur, 
such was their interest in the candidate and the issues of the campaign. 
The lower part of the house was uncomfortably jammed for a warm 
night, wliile the stage seated fully 300, making an audience of close to 
2000, which hung upon every word Mr. Wilson had to utter. 

All the boxes were occupied by socially prominent women of Mercer 
County, Princeton sending down a trolley-load of fashionables. In one 
box sat Mrs. Wilson, gracious wife of the university president, and their 
three daughters, to whom interested attention was directed. It was the 
first political meeting for Mrs. Wilson and the young ladies, and they 
showed a lively interest, not unmixed with a pardonable degree of pride. 
As some of the spectators gazed upon the members of the candidate's 
household, they could not escape the thought that some day they may 
grace the historic halls of the White House, where many gracious women 
have been the cynosure of the nation's eyes. Many other well-dressed 
women were in the immense audience, all deeply interested in and en- 
joying the spirit of the night. 

The full theatre orchestra furnished the music, and while the can- 
didate was awaited the audience started cheers for Mayor Madden, the 
Democratic executive twice elected in this usually Republican city, with 
its tariff-enriched barons. 



PLEDGES TO WAKEN JERSEY 57 

County Chairman Joseph S. Hoff brought Mr. Wilson and Pro- 
fessor Libbey, the Democratic candidate for Congress in this the Fourth 
(iistrict, over from Princeton in an automobile, reaching the theatre at 
8 o'clock. As the candidate stepped from the stage wings, led by former 
Mayor Frank S. Katzenbach, Professor Libbey, State Committeeman 
Charles H. Gallagher, and City Chairman Erwin W. Marshall, a storm of 
applause broke loose. Mr. Marshall presented Mr. Katzenbach as chair- 
man of the meeting and the greeting he got gave partial explanation of 
his local popularity, which came so near making him Governor three 
years ago and landing him as the candidate two weeks ago. It was a 
demonstration for a fellow-citizen of which any man could well be 
proud. 

"It is my intention, and always has been," said the chairman, "to ask 
the Mercer County Democracy to loyally support him who has been 
selected as the party candidate as it supported my candidacy three 
years ago. No man can ask for anything better than that." 

Professor Libbey also made an address, and although these two held 
the audience till 9.20 o'clock, there was no exhibition of uneasiness even 
on the part of the hundreds who stood in the aisles, boxes, and lobby. 
They were keyed to hear the candidate for Governor, and knew no 
fatigue while Professor Libbey reeled off a lot of figures to support his 
argument against the tariff system. 

When, however, the chairman finally presented the sturdy candidate 
everybody woke up to the occasion, and throats grew sore in the shouts 
that went up for the man whom so many are now confident will sit in the 
executive chair of the state after next January. 

Mr. Wilson was clearly at his ease as he stepped forward amid the 
storm of applause and surveyed the animated scene. 

"I have enjoyed this evening," he began, "far more than most of the 
c\enings of my campaign; then I only heard myself. I feel a great 
responsibility as I stand here. It is the second time within the three 
months I have stood upon this platform. I stood here to accept the call 
of the convention which did me the honor of offering me the nomination 
as Governor of this state. I now ask you if you approve of that nomi- 
nation and will support me." 

There were cries of " Yes ! Yes ! " 

"The second responsibility," he continued, "is greater than the first. 
With generosity which I can only say I did not deserve the nomination 
was offered to me, and you are now offering me your votes. 



58 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

" I am asking you for your votes, and, if you give them to me, I will be . 
under bonds to you, not to the gentlemen who were generous enough to | 
nominate me." 

The audience liked that. 

"And that leads me," he said, "to say something of a sort that I have 
not said yet during the campaign. I have sought during the last week 
to avoid as much as possible all reference to myself and to my personal 
purposes, and it seems to me appropriate, standing upon this platform, 
where both candidates for Governor have so recently stood, to say some- 
thing that will define about what I shall try to do, because my com- 
petitor in this race tried to say to the convention that nominated him 
what kind of a Governor he intended to be. He said that he would 
'try to be a constitutional Governor.' 

"He went on to define that by that he meant that he would send 
messages to the legislature, reading in the strongest way he knew how, 
what he thought was necessary; that he would, if he disapproved of the 
acts of the legislature, veto, upon occasion, and require them to be re- 
considered by the legislature; but that beyond that he would not go; 
that he would not try to coerce the legislature into doing anything 
simply because he thought it was in the interests of the people. In other 
words, he said that instead of talking to the legislature he would not 
talk to anybody. Now, I cannot be that kind of a constitutional Gov- 
ernor. I have formed the habit of talking to other people and I want 
you to understand exactly what kind of a Governor you will be electing 
if you elect me. If you elect me you will elect a Governor, who, in 
the opinion of Mr. Lewis, will be an unconstitutional Governor. 

"There is a kind of pressure that can be brought to bear upon the 
legislature which is not only unconstitutional, but immoral. I, for my 
^ p^rt, believe that the standards of morals transcend the standards of 
V- the Constitution. It is immoral to bring the pressure of patronage to 
, bear upon the legislature. It is immoral to try to undermine the in- 
fluence of individual representatives by going into their districts and 
trying to form machines against them. Those are methods to which no 
honorable man will resort. 
y "But every honorable method of urging upon the legislators of this 
state things to do in the interests of the people of this state is assuredly 
constitutional and will be resorted to by myself, if I am elected Governor. 
Gentlemen who have been associated with me in other undertakings have 



PLEDGES TO WAKEN JERSEY 59 

complained of my habit of talking. They have complained that I do 
not regard anything that concerns the public interests as confidential. 

" I do not. I never shall ; and I give notice now that I am going to take 
every important subject of debate in the legislature out on the stump 
and discuss it with the people. 

"If that is pressure upon the legislature, then it is the pressure which 
belongs to popular government. The expression of opinion and nothing 
else. If, in these circumstances, the people do not agree with me, it can- 
not do the legislators any harm. If they do agree with me, then it will 
be necessary for the legislators to do something. It is a perfectly even 
game. The members of the legislature can talk, some of them with 
amazing skill, 

"I am not such a talker as they need be afraid of, and therefore the 
only thing they need be afraid of is my opinion, and opinions are per- 
fectly constitutional. Moreover, there is a sense in which this is serving 
the spirit of the Constitution which reHeves the legislature of certain 
kinds of pressure which they will find it very welcome to be reUeved of. 

"You know what happens when everything is very silent, very quiet, 
when everybody refrains from discussing in public matters that have 
happened in the legislature, when even their needs are being said in 
undertones, when their needs are being mangled, when combinations 
are being formed. 

"You will notice in this state, gentlemen, that the Governor is the 
only ofl&cer of the State Government elected by all the people of New 
Jersey. Every member of the legislature is elected by some portion of 
the people of New Jersey. If the Governor does not talk, therefore, the 
people of New Jersey, as a whole, have no spokesman. 

"I am an amateur, and I shall timidly, as standing outside of the 
ranks of the profession, tackle the profession. I shall insist in every 
instance that tackhng be done in public and note in private, and I wel- 
come any politician in the state to a debate upon the public platform 
upon a pubHc question." 

This met with a storm of applause. 

"If you choose me as your Governor, then you will choose me as your 
spokesman, and upon those terms I shall approach the various questions 
which are interesting particularly at the present time. 

"I do not believe for one moment that the people of this state or of 
any other state in this Union are corrupt. I beUeve that corruption 
thrives only in secret places, not in public places, and that the reason you 
are constantly suspicious is that so many things are privately done in- 



6o A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

stead of by public arrangements, and that the politicians themselves — 
I mean those who have been under suspicion: I am now naturally 
referring to the Republicans — mil find it to their advantage to have 
secrecy supplanted by pubHcity because in many instances they have 
been unjustly suspected. 

"What I object to principally in the definition of his principles by my 
opponent is that he is volunteering pubUc service of a system, and it is 
system I object to, and a system I will do everything in my power to 
break up. 

"There are corruptions in poHtics. It would be an empty pretence 
if I were to try to make you believe that I thought those corruptions were 
characteristic of one party rather than another. They are, gentlemen, 
I am sorry to say, in parties who have long been in power. It ought not 
to be so, and I beHeve in my heart it need not be so, but I believe, and I 
am sorry to admit, that it is so generally. I am not attacking our Re- 
publicans as far as they are the rank and file of the Republican 
party, but it is certain that the politics of the state have got 
into a very bad system, and corruptions have crept in which should 
not have crept in, 

"One thing we need in pohtics for protection is the corrupt practices 
act. The corrupt practices act can go, and should go, into very inter- 
esting details; it should specially state what are the legitimate expenses 
of a campaign; it should limit the expenses of a campaign to those 
legitimate objects; it should require that all candidates and all commit- 
tees should publish in full an account of every cent they have received 
and from whom they received it. Then, last of all, it should forbid 
any person who holds a public office of any kind to contribute one penny 
to a campaign fund." 

Continuing along this line, Mr. Wilson said: 

"There is one very disturbing character in man, and I have expe- 
rienced it myself and I dare say you have when you are a long way 
from home and see no neighbor from near your home: You give 
yourself an extraordinary latitude in your conduct, but if you were on 
the Desert of Sahara and met one of your immediate neighbors coming 
the other way on a camel you would behave yourself until he got out of 
sight. 

"It seems to me the gaze of human eyes, it seems to me the support of 
the atmosphere of a community that knows all about you, whose good 



PLEDGES TO WAKEN JERSEY 6i 

opinion you desire, is healthy. So that publicity is one of the purifying 
elements of politics. The best thing you can do with anything that is 
crooked is to lift it up so that people can see it is crooked, and then it will 
either straighten itself out or disappear. These, therefore, are matters 
which touch us. 

"Then there is another matter to which I shall descend to a bill of 
particulars. It is the habit to talk about efficiency and economy in the 
Government. A great deal has been said about the increase of 
expenses in the Federal Government and about the increases in the 
expenses of the State Government. My friend, Mr. Libbey, I am sure, 
would join me in saying that in recent years we have put new 
functions on our Government and they have necessarily cost more; 
yet we have not managed these matters in a businesslike manner, in 
an economical manner. We have not performed our work as 
economically as we might. Therefore the history of the adminis- 
tration needs to be studied from the top to the bottom and every 
effort made to put it upon a business basis of efficiency. If we 
are going to run this Government on the basis of economy, we are 
undertaking a big contract. 

"If you elect me to undertake it do not blame me by coming to me 
after a few months with tedious rows of figures; don't blame me for com- 
ing to you as a board of directors to lay before you, as I would lay before 
a university, the budgets, the means, the circumstances as to where the 
money is to come from, how the money is to be spent and how it is to be 
saved ; that is what I understand to be the business of the Governor and 
all other representatives. So that you must get ready to understand 
your Governor." 

Closing, Mr. Wilson presented one of the lofty ideals that are bound to 
make for the betterment of the people. He said : 

"A few who are distinguished with their names daily in the news- 
papers are not the real representative citizens of the country, but 
the man who toils, who goes about his work with a desire to perform 
it well, to support those who are dependent upon him, to do his 
duty toward those who trust him — he is the representative American ; 
and it is because he is that America has grown rich and powerful. If 
American men could not be trusted, if they did not know how to work, 
American men would have neither distinction nor power. And, there- 
fore, in appeaUng to impulses of this nature, we are appealing to 



62 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

impulses that are right, to impulses that will redeem, to impulses that 
will perpetuate America," 

As the opening of Mr, Wilson's second week, the crossing of the 
frontier of the "enemy's country" to-night's meeting was a distinct 
success, a fair warning to the Republicans and to Mr, Lewis, their 
candidate for Governor, that they must fight every inch of the way from 
now to election day. 



XI 

KEEP CLOSE TAB ON WILSON WAVE 

JERSEY REPUBLICAN LEADERS WONDERING IF PRINCETON MAN IS 
GOING TO SWEEP THINGS 

Trenton, Oct. 4. — It developed to-day that a good many leading Re- 
publicans watched with considerable anxiety the Wilson meeting in this 
city last night, and its great size and enthusiasm were not at all to their 
liking. Some of the leaders among the RepubHcans have been very 
anxious as to the probable effect of the Wilson candidacy, for it stands for 
something wholly new and rather unique in New Jersey, and they are 
keeping close tab upon the meetings in various parts of the state with a 
view to estimating their value and portent. Of course, some of them ex- 
press the opinion that well-attended meetings and apparently large and 
enthusiastic demonstrations do not always indicate the trend of popular 
thought and feeling. They point to the immense throngs which flocked 
to see and to hear Bryan in his campaigns as indicating the fallacy of 
counting votes by the number and lustiness of the shouts. But that is 
the only source of comfort and encouragement they can locate. They 
have discovered that Woodrow Wilson has a new and strong message to 
the men of America, and that he has a way of delivering it that is at 
once convincing and compelling. They have learned that he is gathering 
unto his standard large bodies of the best element among the voters of 
the state, and with five weeks more of the campaign to come they are 
unable to conceal the alarm they feel over the outlook. They hold that 
Mr. Wilson has only skimmed the surface of the situation as yet, dealing 
only with the loftier ideas as to citizenship and patriotism and touching 
only the fringes of the paramount issues of the campaign in the state. 
But Mr. Wilson gave evidence in his speech last night that he has only 
been feeling his way as an amateur, the active political game being new 
to him, since he has devoted his life to its study from the outside. He 
expects, as he intimated, to get down to "hard pan" presently, and to go 
deep into some of the weaknesses in the administration of the State 
Government, which have received more or less public criticism in recent 

63 



64 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

years, and for the correction of which the Democrats stand committed 
in their platform. He showed that he was preparing the way for an 
elaboration of his plan by starting the point of the probe into the State 
Road Department. Just what he may have in store for the public from 
that source is not now known, but he intimated that he expected to get 
back to it and open his knowledge box on the subject. Indeed, it was 
declared after the meeting last night that the candidate is ready to turn 
the light on the State House and reveal what the Democrats declare to 
be conditions of which the taxpayers of the state have not the slightest 
knowledge. 

"Just give Wilson a little time," said a Democratic leader to-day, 
" and he will bring out all the straight talk the Repubhcans can stand and 
then some. The campaign is hardly begun yet. It will be hot enough 
before it is over." 

Mr. Wilson writes few of his addresses in advance. Of course, he 
makes some mental preparation for them, but he has been such a prolific 
writer and such a deep student that elaborate preparation is not nec- 
essary. He never consults a note or a memorandum, but stands up 
firmly, his keen eyes fastened upon his audience, which he invariably 
wins with the first terse sentences and holds to the end of his beautiful 
perorations, and the well-rounded sentences, clean-cut diction and 
faultless rhetoric flow from him like the silvery waters over the rocks of a 
forest brook. Sometimes the newspapermen who have followed him 
thus far in the campaign catch their breaths, halt their pencils and con- 
sider how he is going to extricate himself from a seemingly linguistic 
pitfall when, in the most natural manner in the world, he will come 
smoothly out, smiling and effectively, amid a fresh outbreak of applause 
from his audience. 

When the Democratic State Committee learned that it would not be 
possible for the candidate to prepare his addresses so that copies could be 
sent out to the newspapers in advance. Chairman Nugent organized a 
corps of stenographers and typists to accompany him on the tour of the 
state to take the speeches as they are delivered each night. The task 
was assigned to Clarence Sackett, an expert of Newark, who has been a 
stenographer in the Supreme Court for years. The system is now work- 
ing to a nicety. Mr. Sackett takes the first fifteen minutes of the ad- 
dress, retires to the most convenient room — it was the office of a bottling 
establishment at Plainfield last Thursday night — and reads from his 
notes to a swift typewriter, while one of his assistants is "taking" the 
next fifteen minutes, retiring for a second assistant, who usually gets 



KEEP CLOSE TAB ON WILSON WAVE 65 

the last of the speech, Mr. Wilson usually talking forty-five minutes. 
In this manner the correspondents are able to get carbon copies of the 
first part of the address before all of it is delivered and to put it on the 
wires for transmission to their papers in the candidate's exact language 
with no chance of misquoting or misunderstanding. 

Sackett, warm and excited, emerged from a dressing room of the Beach 
Casino, at Long Branch, last Saturday night just as Mr. Wilson had con- 
cluded his address and was leaving the stage. 

Former Senator Smith presented the stenographer to the candidate. 

" Glad to meet you, sir," said Mr. Wilson. "I do hope I am not hard 
to follow." 

"Oh, not hard to follow," said Sackett, gripping the sturdy hand; 
"only I get so absorbed in your speech that it is hard for me to keep my 
pen going." 

Mr. Wilson appeared greatly pleased at the unique tribute to his 
power as an orator. The correspondents feel pretty much the same way 
as the stenographer. They want to listen and cut the work. 

Mr. Wilson has so far been enabled to reach his Princeton home or go 
to the Princeton Club in New York at nights after his meetings. He has 
been importuned at every turn to accept the hospitality of prominent 
men in the places he visits, but so far he has courteously declined all 
invitations. He has not stated his reasons for this position, but it is 
inferred that he prefers not to be under social obligations to any one dur- 
ing the campaign. If elected Governor in November he counts upon 
going into ofiSce absolutely unfettered. 



XII 
STRONG IN ''ENEMY'S COUNTRY" 

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE GETS GREAT DEMONSTRATION IN GLOU- 
CESTER COUNTY — WINS workers' FAVOR 

Woodbury, Oct. 5. — It was easy to see that Woodrow Wilson's invasion 
of the "enemy's country" to-night was one more of the briUiant successes 
he has already achieved in this unique campaign. Here, in the centre of 
a rich agricultural section and a part of South Jersey's great glass in- 
dustry, he was met by the largest audience ever assembled in the city 
to greet a candidate for Governor. And in answer to that widespread 
criticism that he is opposed to organized labor, a criticism used against 
him in the movement to prevent his nomination, Mr. Wilson made this 
direct and distinct answer, which evoked a volley of applause that made 
eardrums ache: 

"There was a time when the tariff did not raise prices, but that time is 
past, and the tariff is now taken advantage of by the great combinations 
in such a way as to give them absolute control of prices. Now, these 
things do not happen by chance. It does not happen by chance that 
prices are and have been rising faster than in any other country. That 
river that divides us from Canada divides us from much cheaper living, 
notwithstanding that the Canadian Parliament levies duties on its im- 
portations. But there are not these combinations of factories in Canada 
that ride our backs like old men of the sea, to make men really believe 
that these combinations with capital give them the benefit of the tariff. 
Don't they know that? 

"They know that they have gotten the benefit out of everything they 
have gotten the benefit out of by the process of organized labor. I say 
all honor to the legitimate use of organized labor. I have taken the 
liberty sometimes, as every man should, to criticise some of the things 
that organized labor has done, but I have never for a moment ceased to 
sympathize with those essential objects which have benefited the labor- 

66 



STRONG IN "ENEMY'S COUNTRY" 67 

ing man, and in order that they may not be deprived of the benefit of 
increasing profits and increasing prosperity." 

His announcement on that score had been preceded by a brief dis- 
cussion of the actual workings of the Payne-Aldrich tariff, which he 
declared was designed not to benefit the workingman, but the operation 
of the powerful combinations in the industries of the land. " Watch the 
tariff," he said. "It is not the wages of workingmen that rise and fall 
with it, but the bank accounts of the rich manufacturers who form the 
powerful trade combinations." 

Coming as did this rally in a section of New Jersey where organized 
labor is strong and where lives Congressman Loudenslager, one of the 
"stand-pattest" of all the Aldrich-Cannon stand-patters, the mark of 
noisy approval it received was remarkable indeed. 

One of the first things Mr. Wilson said as he stepped forward amid the 
plaudits of the crowd which choked the entrance to Green's Opera House 
and which pleased his hearers mightily was: 

" It is my privilege to be here among you not to solicit votes personally, 
but to represent a cause. This is a campaign of neighbors getting to- 
gether to discuss the things to be done and the men to do them." 

From that time forward to the closing sentences of his fifty-five minute 
address he had the wrapt attention of his big and demonstrative audience, 
and County Chairman James D. Carpenter, for years editor and pub- 
lisher of the Gloucester County Democrat, said that Gloucester County po- 
litical audiences are seldom large and never demonstrative. There was 
not an inch of unoccupied space in the theatre, which seats 1000, and 
into which there must have been crowded 1300 persons, while many were 
turned away, unable to get even standing space. In the audience, too, 
were many Republicans, and while some of them came in mere curiosity, 
just to see what the candidate seemed and sounded like, others came as 
admirers and earnest supporters of the man who has had the courage to 
say that mere political influence can never sway his actions as executive 
of the great state. On that score he won renewed confidence by this open 
declaration, made with unusual firmness and earnestness: 

" I should not like to engage in this campaign if I thought it was a mere 
party matter, if I thought I would have to answer for the record of one 
party and attack the record of another. I don't think it would be worth 
while. There are many things to criticise in the records of both parties, 



68 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

but it has come to be a party matter only in respect to a matter of pro- 
gram. We are not interested now — I will frankly say — in the success 
or failure of parties, but in the success or failure of policies, in the success 
of measures for the relief of some conditions which have turned out to be 
intolerable, and, therefore, I profoundly believe that the Democratic 
party is the most suitable instrument for the realization of the poUcies I 
hold to be indispensable, and I consider it a proud moment when I 
recognize that period." \ 

Declaring that New Jersey has steadily declined in the leadership of 
affairs for the betterment of the nation, a position it has every reason and 
right to assume, Mr. Wilson said: 

"Have you read the Democratic platform? Have you read the Re- 
publican platform? Do you remember how the Democratic platform 
begins? It begins — I can't quote it exactly; I can't quote anything 
exactly — but the substance of it is this: That the Democratic party 
in presenting a candidate for Governor also wishes to make the following 
statement of what it proposes it should do if entrusted with the govern- 
ment of the state; not what it thinks the Repubhcan party ought to have 
done. You know how many of the old-fashioned platforms read that 
they 'pointed with pride' to something or other their party had done and 
with condemnation and reprobation of something else that the other 
party had done. There is no 'pointing with pride' and no pointing with 
condemnation in the Democratic platform; there is a pointing with pur- 
pose if you will entrust us with the government of this state, and these 
are the things we shall try. 

"There is one definite promise that the Republican platform makes, 
and that is for a public utility commission that will have some power; and 
that is exactly what the Republican platform promised three years ago. 
Have you got it? This thing that they call a promise in this platform is 
regarded as an apology. It says: 'We promised it once and relied upon 
your credulity. Now, we are going to promise it again and see if you will 
be credulous a second time,' or else it means: 'We promised it once 
when we did not mean it, now we beg your pardon for not having meant 
it, and this time we mean it.' 

"One or the other of those two meanings must be the significance of 
that promise, which was the only promise that they did not dare omit — 
because that was not a promising convention. I think, from all the in- 
dications that I can gather, that it was not even a hopeful convention. 



STRONG IN "ENEMY'S COUNTRY" 69 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, because it did not represent the rank 
and file of the RepubKcan party. It represented a certain group of 
interests in control of the leaders of the RepubKcan party and not the 
people of the State of New Jersey. 

"You will not find me in any speech of this campaign uttering one 
word of criticism of my fellow-citizens who compose the rank and file 
of the RepubKcan party. I respect them just as much as I respect the 
men who had voted according to my opinions in past campaigns. But 
what I am finding fault with is that they have been radically misled by 
men who have not meant to serve them in the manner in which they 
promised to serve them in times past, or have not acted in the spirit in 
which the leaders of the past generations have acted — in sympathy mth 
the people of these communities. I am not one of those silly students of 
history who can read history all in favor of one party. I know the 
services that the RepubKcan party have rendered to this country, and I 
know that that party have rendered such services to this country 
because they were backed by the sympathy and manhood of the people 
up and down the counties and states of this Union." 

Referring once more to the great independent movement in the 
country, which he regards as an awakening of the people to obtain the 
things they need for the betterment of their welfare, Mr. Wilson said: 

"I want to make good the things that I have said by calHng your 
attention to certain circmnstances. What is happening among the 
RepubKcans of this country? Why, this is happening, that everywhere 
that a progressive impulse shows itself men are flinging away from the 
regular organization of the RepubKcan party and calling themselves 
insurgents, and in some instances they have been so numerous that they 
have absolutely dominated the poKtical conventions in more than one 
state, so that if you will read the RepubKcan platform of the state of 
Kansas you wiK read one kind of document, and if you will read the Re- 
publican platform of the state of Ohio, you will read another kind of 
document, because it is not the same RepubKcan party that is in control 
in Ohio that has control in Kansas. 

"Everywhere, throughout this country, men are dissatisfied with the 
past organization of both parties, to be frank; and the dissatisfaction 
with the past government of the RepubKcan party has shown itself in 
one of the most powerful and widespread party movements that has ever 
been witnessed in this country — I mean the insurgent movement. 



70 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Now, what encouragement has the insurgent movement received in New 
Jersey? None whatever, so far as those who are governing the councils 
of the party are concerned; the voters are another matter. 

"I am now speaking entirely of those who are governing Republican 
conventions and Republican councils in this state. There was one in- 
surgent Republican Congressman in New Jersey. What happened to 
him? He was not renominated. They have substituted another — a 
very able man, whom I respect greatly; I mean Mr. George L. Record. 
But, what happened to Mr. George L. Record in the convention which 
nominated Mr. Lewis? He was jeered at; there were calls of 'Put him 
out!' He was not listened to with any degree of patience even, much less 
with respect; and immediately after that convention Mr. Record himself 
condemned it as a convention which was a disgrace to the RepubUcan 
party; but they have had the very good sense, in Mr. Record's Con- 
gressional district, to nominate him for Congress, as he richly deserved 
to be nominated; and now Mr. Record is saying that a certain person 
called Woodrow Wilson is disappointing the 'Independents' of this state 
because he is not talking more plainly about the issues of the state cam- 
paign. Whom is Mr. Record disappointing? Mr. Record, who was 
almost cast out of the Republican convention, now gives it as his opinion 
that you are to reject the candidates of the persons they represented 
in the Democratic convention. Who controlled the Republican con- 
vention? 

"And if I represent some of the men who are said to have controlled, 
but did not control, the Democratic convention, whom, I should Hke to 
know, does Mr. Record represent? If he represents what was repre- 
sented in the convention, you know who engineered that convention. 
It is common knowledge that that convention was engineered by one of 
the United States Senators from New Jersey, and the campaign is now 
being run by the other United States Senator from New Jersey. Can 
you find anything in the senatorial record of either of those men except 
an absolute stand-pat support of Aldrichism and Cannonism? — Al- 
drichism, which every public-spirited man denies to be true Republi- 
canism at all; Cannonism, which every man of the country despises as 
an attempt to control in the interest of particular persons the great 
national legislature of this country. I am perfectly content to represent 
the reorganized Democratic party, and I am surprised that Mr. Record 
should be content to represent the unreorganized Republican party — 
an insurgent nominee supporting a campaign backed and originated by 
the man who was the chief errand boy for Mr. Aldrich in the Senate. If 



STRONG IN "ENEMY'S COUNTRY" 71 

this is the tune these gentlemen are singing, let us carry the war into 
Africa." 

Mr. Wilson, as in all his addresses, refuses to harshly criticise his 
opponent or to resort to the usual campaign dev-ice of abusing the other 
fellow. This was his allusion to Vivian M. Lewis, Republican candidate : 

"There is absolutely nothing, so far as the record of that nominating 
convention is concerned, that gives the least encouragement to the pro- 
gressive Republicans anywhere, either in New Jersey or out of it. Look 
at the efforts — the very creditable efforts — that Mr. Lewis himself 
made in that convention to get some liberal planks into that platform. 
I have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Lewis, and I esteem and respect 
him. You will find not one word in anything that I have said except 
esteem and respect for my opponent. You know how little respect was 
paid to his wishes to put into that platform anything that had the least 
tinge or color of progressiveness. Therefore, he is tied hand and foot 
by the machinery that has nominated him, and he has consented to stay 
so tied." 

Referring to the criticisms passing that he has not "made good," and 
that he is an amateur in politics, Mr. Wilson made a decided impression 
with this reply: 

"It is supposed that I am a very innocent candidate. I don't know 
what the people of the state who have seen me think of me, but if they 
do say these things about me, I can assure them that I am not as big a 
fool as I look; and I can tell those gentlemen exactly how my policies 
are operated if they would like to hear the story; but I don't tliink they 
would like to hear the story, at any rate many of them who are now 
desperately endeavoring to stick to their offices." 

Mr. Wilson paid his respects to President Taft and his present pre- 
dicament in a telling point, saying, as the audience made frequent inter- 
•cuptions of laughter: 

"See what a position the National Administration is in. All my criti- 
cisms are not only without personal point, because I know these gentle- 
men, every one of them, and I have nothing whatever to say against their 
characters and no suspicion to throw upon their motives. I have a verv 



72 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

great respect and profound sympathy, I must say, for President Taft. 
He is in about as unfavorable and awkward a position as a man could get 
in, and it is not his own fault that he got into it. That is the reason that 
he has my sympathy. If a man walks into a hole he has no sympathy 
from me, but if he is put in a hole he has my sympathy. President Taft 
has my profound sympathy, and yet he did make a great blunder him- 
self; he did not see the signs of the times, that little cloud no bigger than 
a man's hand rising on the horizon in the West; he did not know it was 
going to spread until it covered the whole face of the western heaven, 
and so in a very well-known speech at a town named Winona — which, 
I am happy to say, was not in New Jersey — he declared that the Al- 
drich-Payne tariff was the best tariff ever enacted by a Republican Con- 
gress. I think that is nothing less than a libel on previous tariffs. 
Some previous tariffs have been very reasonable, in my opinion, but the 
Aldrich-Payne tariff was impossible — impossible for rational men to 
sustain. I say that was a colossal blunder." 

At the conclusion of Mr. Wilson's stirring address brief speeches were 
made by former Mayor J. E. Nowrey, candidate for Congress, who 
won warm applause, and James Lafferty, candidate for Assembly, who 
was also cordially received. 

Mr. Wilson came down from Princeton this afternoon and met State 
Chairman Nugent at the Bellevue- Stratford, Philadelphia, where had 
gathered State Committeeman Gallagher, of Mercer, and State Com- 
mitteeman Grosscup, of Gloucester County. They started in a big 
touring car at 5.30 o'clock. On the Camden side was another car, contain- 
ing former Mayor Joseph E. Nowery, candidate for Congress in this the 
First district, where Congressman Loudenslager is said to have a real 
hard, uphill fight for the first time in his eighteen years of service, and 
Ralph W. E. Donges, a leading Camden lawyer and Democratic hustler. 
They made fast time through Camden, where at several points word got 
out to passing crowds that Woodrow Wilson was going through, and im- 
promptu cheers arose. As they passed the great plant of the New York 
Ship-building Company the army of workmen were just emerging from 
the gates, and a suggestion was made that the candidate's car be stopped, 
but it was decided that there would be no time, as the party was due 
here at 6 o'clock. 

In this city the expectant crowd began to grow on the sidewalks in 
front of the Newton Hotel as early as 5 o'clock, and long before the can- 
didate was due it had increased in numbers. Gathered there were some 
of the old reliable, always-on-deck Democrats of Gloucester and the 




EDWARD E. GROSSCUP, CHAIRMAN STATE COMMITTEE 



STRONG IN "ENEMY'S COUNTRY" 73 

adjoining county of Salem, for many of the people of the latter county 
were too impatient to wait for the candidate's appearance there on Oc- 
tober 26th. Former Congressman Thomas M. Ferrell, of Glassboro, who 
was the one Democrat to win the District, and who was in late years 
chosen a Democratic Senator from this county, and who was mighty 
close to the nomination for Governor six years ago, met all comers pend- 
ing Mr. Wilson's arrival. With him were A. H. Swackhamer and 
Joseph J. Sumraerill, leading lawyers of South Jersey, and regarded as 
probable judges in the event of Democratic success; Joseph T. Sickle, 
another well-known lawyer, who as a candidate has borne the brunt of 
many a hard battle against odds; Joseph F. Newton, who opposed 
Senator G. W. F. Gaunt two years ago, and who is said to be assured of 
the nomination again next year; venerable Thomas J. Stratton, the old 
soldier and former lay judge, and scores of others equally well known 
in this section. 



XIII 
POINTS WAY TO NEW ERA 

TELLS PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY REPUBLICANS CAN NO LONGER 
BE TRUSTED 

Burlington, Oct. 6. — In a direct appeal to the people of New Jersey to 
choose between the candidate who must be bound to the party that has 
broken so many pledges and promises and the candidate who stands free 
to carry out all the promises he has made, Woodrow Wilson ended a long, 
hard day in this stand-pat Republican city of snail-like pace. Despite 
his handicap of a hard, hot day of campaigning he made a telling address, 
driving home the potent truths, which seem to sway his every thought 
and impulse. He made the comparative analyses to present to the 
minds of his hearers the necessity of choosing wisely and well in a crisis 
born of years and years of thoughtless waste of natural powers and re- 
sources. He said he would point out just what is going on in the United 
States in these days, after years and years of such waste, at a time when 
the vast powers of the nation have become the wonder of the world. 

Proceeding along the line that a severe turnabout is necessary if 
America would accomplish the relief its people demand, Mr. Wilson said: 

"What is needed in this country is regulated legislation, and also the 
constant debate of public questions in public with the pubUc themselves, 
so we may build up something more than the judgments of editorial 
writers, something more than the assertions of politicians, something 
more than the guesses of the public, which at best are only guesses. We 
can see how it is true, as I said at the outset, that we have come to a 
point of self-consciousness; we have turned about to look at ourselves 
and have said we have made great strides, and we have also made some 
great blunders, and now we must pull up and ask what those blunders 
are. All over the country is the impulse to do this thing — to serve 
everything. We have been neglecting to make our present leaders do 
the things they have promised to do. 

"Now, how are you going to do them, through whom are you going to 

74 



POINTS WAY TO NEW ERA 75 

do them here in New Jersey? I know, ladies and gentlemen, that I am 
speaking here, I suppose, to a large number of men who have voted the 
RepubHcan ticket, and I want to say to them what I have said in the 
strongest communities of this Commonwealth, that I have absolutely no 
quarrel, I have absolutely no criticism for the men who have voted the 
Republican ticket. All I want to ask them is, do they think that under 
the present leadership of the Republican party in the State of New Jersey 
they are going to get what good RepubHcans want." 

For a hot, sultry night, after practically everybody in town had spent 
a warm, tiresome day at the county fair, the meeting in the auditorium 
was a great one. It is a big theatre, seating more than 1200, and in the 
lower part of the house many persons stood throughout the delivery of 
Mr. Wilson's splendid address. And the crowd was keenly appreciative 
of the strong points of the speech, which evoked hearty outbursts of 
applause. County Chairman Thomas J. Prickett called the meeting to 
order and introduced Thomas H. Birch for chairman as "that fine, ster- 
ling, sturdy, stalwart young Democrat." Mr. Birch said he was sure the 
audience did not come to listen to him talk, but that he had the distinct 
pleasure of making a triple introduction of the man they all desired to 
hear, " our candidate for Governor, our next Governor, our next President 
of the United States." 

The crowd was quick to catch the ring of that spirit of hopefulness and 
it cheered right lustily as Mr. Wilson stepped forward to the footlights. 
His first utterances, showing the lofty impulses that sway him and the 
heart that beats for a freer America, met a responsive wave of feeling in 
the audience, who seemed to quickly grasp the sincerity and truth that 
lay behind the man with a soul in his eyes. 

Referring to the new order of things in the country, the general trend 
of thought toward the removal of all malign influence from government 
and legislation, the candidate said: 

"The interesting thing I want to call your attention to is this: that out- 
side the State of New Jersey, almost everywhere that you turn your eye, 
the Democrats are putting up new men. Have you noticed that? Have 
you noticed that in the nominations for the governorships in the states 
throughout this country for the most part the Democrats are putting up 
either new men or tested men like Judson Harmon of Ohio? Men who 
have made good, and men who do not have to be commended with 
hypothesis as I have to commend the Democratic candidate to you now. 



76 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"Now, the constitutional manner in which the Republican leaders 
have acted has interested me very much. You have heard of the Board 
of Guardians. That is not the legal denomination of anybody, but that 
is the present name, the privately professional name, for the Re- 
publican State Committee while the legislature is in session. I have 
asked members of that committee what they were guardians of, and they 
have never given me any specific or intelligible reply. Their duty is, so 
far as I can make it out, to see that nothing is done by the legislature 
which is not approved by the committee. 

"Now, who in the State of New Jersey elected the Republican State 
Committee to supervise the legislation of the state? Who would prefer 
that any party committee should supervise the legislation of this state? 
The only persons who ought ever to supervise the legislation of a sover- 
eign commonwealth are the citizens of that commonwealth, and any 
state committee that tries to supervise anything will act just exactly as 
a state committee can and is expected to act during a campaign. The 
duty of a state committee during a campaign is to see what is the best 
strategy. I beheve that my friends on the Democratic State Committee 
will bear me out in saying that they will not be able to study that this 
time because they have not been able to control me. Not that they 
tried to control me — they gave that up before they tried — and they 
have left me absolutely a free hand — and I am so innocent that I do not 
know what strategy is. In my amateur way, I have always understood 
that the duties of a state committee during a campaign is to study the 
campaign, but is there any campaign left after the men are elected? 
What strategies of what campaign are the Board of Guardians studying? 
That is a matter worth thinking of. What is on? What is to be guarded 
against; what is to be gained? Why these private conferences? Why 
this anxiety as to what the legislature may do? What are our legislators 
elected for if not to do what the people whom they represent wish done? 

"All of this illustrates for you what I am trying to illustrate from the 
beginning of this speech to the end — the necessity of regulating every 
community through contact with public opinion, and one of the chief 
things that it is my heart's desire to do, if I should be honored by being 
elected Governor of the state of New Jersey, is to bring legislation into 
contact with the thought of the people. I have trained myself through- 
out my lifetime to explain things to people, and I would be very glad, if 
I could get an inside view of the legislation of this state, to explain it to 
the people of New Jersey, and I should hke very much to constitute as 
many audiences as I could reach a board of guardians for the super- 



POINTS WAY TO NEW ERA 77 

vision of legislation, and I believe that every member of the legislature 
would feel that that process had at last rendered him what in his man- 
hood he desired to be — a free man and the real representative of his 
people, for I would not have you believe — for I do not believe — that 
the legislatures of our states are naturally corrupted bodies. America 
has not fallen to that state, ladies and gentlemen; but, if you leave the 
legislature leaderless, it is necessary to organize it on some basis of in- 
fluence, and men must of necessity yield to the processes of counsel which 
are in fashion." 

Mr. Wilson, earlier in his address, referring to the great waste of re- 
sources in America, said he regarded the unnecessary waste and sacrifice 
of human life as one of the worst, and this led to a discussion of the em- 
ployers' liabiUty legislation from a broad, humanitarian standpoint. 
Closing in one of those blunt appeals to the better impulses of the people, 
he said, amid tense silence: 

"If corrupt practices can be kept out on election day, I shall believe 
that the choice made by the people of New Jersey was the best choice 
that they could have made. I have been bred in a school, ever since I 
wos a child, of those who know that their own judgments are not the 
invariable judgments to follow. I have learned through long experience 
that anything laid in fairness and candor before a great jury like this will 
bring a verdict with which candid and honest men should be satisfied. 
And so, ladies and gentlemen, with this simple presentation of a plain 
case, I leave, so far as I am concerned, the verdict concerning my col- 
league and myself to the people of the great county of Burhngton." 

When the applause had died away brief addresses were made by former 
Mayor Katzenbach, of Trenton, and Mayor Hampton, of Bridgeton, 
candidate for Congress. 

"What do you think of the day?" Mr. Wilson was asked as with a 
weary look in his eyes he walked out to his automobile for the run to 
Philadelphia. 

" I know of some better kinds," was the reply, accompanied by a cheery 
smile, "but I liked it, liked it very much." 

It had been a mighty hard day, though — one of the old-fashioned 
campaigning kind — with plenty of hand-shaking and crowds and good 
wishes and promises, but over it all there was the spirit of the hour, the 
plaudits of an awakened people earnestly favoring the elevation of the 



78 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

man who so courageously tells what he believes to be for the best wel- 
fare of the country as he views it after a lifetime of careful, conscien- 
tious study. 

After enjoying a good night's rest and rising this morning with a fresh- 
ness and vigor that were portentous of a day of hard work, State Chair- 
man Nugent was ready for him in the big touring car and they were 
whirled away through Camden. On approaching the lower part of the 
city an odor that was far from pleasant reached the nostrils of the tourists 
and some one was unkind enough to say: " That must come from Cam- 
den County politics." It proved to be the effluvia of a fat-rendering 
establishment, so that the Democrats saw little difference. 

There was a straight run then through Gloucester and Woodbury to 
Wenonah. 

From Wenonah the party was wmsked away across more good, but 
dusty, roads into Camden County, touching Mount Ephraim, over 
through Haddon Heights, along the historic King's Highway, through 
Haddonfield, viewing the old "Indian King" Inn, the meeting place of 
the first New Jersey Assembly ; out past straggling Ellisburg and pretty, 
prosperous Moorestown and into quaint old Mount Holly. Here the 
party halted at the Elks' Home, where they were met by former Judge 
B. P. Wills, State Committeeman from Burlington County; Charles 
Stokes, of Beverly, one of the old "war horses of Democracy"; Thomas 
H. Birch, son of James H. Birch, the great personal friend of William J. 
Bryan; Mayor George J. Hampton, of Bridgeton, Democratic candidate 
for Congress in this the Second district, and other leading men of the 
party now so thoroughly aroused even in this section, so accustomed to 
giving Republican majorities, but which gave Congressman Gardner only 
750 majority two years ago. 

After luncheon Mr. Wilson was whirled out to the Burlington County 
Fair, where in a minute he was in the thick of some of the hardest, truest 
and deepest-dyed Democrats in the world. The first man to whom 
Judge Wills, as president of the Fair Association, introduced Mr. Wilson 
was an old farmer named Hart. 

"Well, sir," said Hart, covering the Wilson hand in his, "if they all do 
as well as Willin'boro, you're ez good ez 'lected." 

Mr. Wilson, pleased with this hearty expression of good will, soon 
afterward learned that Willingboro township is always good for 25 
Democratic majority upward. 

It was one succession of meetings, with jubilant and hopeful Demo- 
crats after that; but there were also many Republicans who seemed eager 



POINTS WAY TO NEW ERA 



79 



to grasp his good right hand and gaze upon his rugged face, lighted with 
such kindly eyes. 

Mr. Wilson also again met Banking Commissioner V. M. Lewis, his 
Republican opponent, and pretty nearly all the Republicans who figure 
in the state, for the crowd at the fair was a jam. He did not remain long 
at the show, however, for there was much for him to do and he wanted to 
be away. He was whisked over the good stone road to Burlington, where 
he had a chance for a brief rest before the big night's meeting. 



XIV 
ENTHUSES BRIDGETON THRONG 

HOLDS GREAT AUDIENCE IN ENEMY'S STRONGHOLD SPELLBOUND 
FOR ENTIRE HOUR 

Bridgeton, Oct. 7. — In one of the almost impregnable citadels of the 
"enemy's country" to-night Woodrow Wilson found his way to the 
hearts of an awakened people in one of the strongest, most direct, most 
pointed and forceful of all the addresses he yet has made. He aroused 
an immense audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm and it was a plain 
appeal to the people of the nation, of New Jersey, and Cumberland 
County to awake and cast off the malign influences of machine 
politics. 

Over and over again, as he forced home the plain truths that lie next 
his great heart, he won a response from the audience that choked the 
theatre entrances, which showed that his lofty ideals had reached the 
spot. Mr. Wilson evidently was deeply moved by the close attention of 
his audience, and for nearly a solid hour he dwelt upon the manifest 
weakness of the present systems and asked the people to cut the old 
party lines and push forward to the accomplishment of the things neces- 
sary for the improvement of conditions. 

"Who rules America?" he asked earnestly, gazing into the sea of 
eager faces before him. "The men who vote and always vote the Re- 
publican ticket or the Democratic ticket? No, happily, it is the men 
whose vote the machines can't count upon; the men who vote as they 
think and not whether their party is going to win." 

It was one of the largest and best meetings Mr. Wilson yet has greeted. 
The Criterion Theatre, seating 1200 persons, was jammed in all its parts, 
hundreds of men standing in the lobbies, aisles, and stage throughout the 
long address, displaying the keenest interest in all the eminent candidate 
had to say. This, too, on a cold, rainy night, in a strong Republican 
city, where Democrats are mighty scarce as a rule, and an idea as to how 
the local Republican leaders felt about the demonstration may be 
gathered. They went out of the hall talking about the salient features 

80 



ENTHUSES BRIDGETON THRONG 8i 

of the speech as if to say, "We have seen and heard one of our nation's 
bravest and greatest men." 

Former Prosecutor of the Pleas William A. Logue, a member of the 
State Fish and Game Commission, presided, and in introducing the 
speaker declared that New Jersey was attracting widespread attention 
because the Democratic party had gone to the highest plane of inde- 
pendence in the selection of its standard-bearer. 

"Hoorah!" shouted lusty voices, and it was the signal for a loud and 
hearty cheer, which seemed to give Mr. Wilson a fresh grip on himself and 
his ideas. From the beginning, therefore, he was keyed to the highest 
tension, earnest and convincing, so that at his brilliant conclusion there 
was a rush for the stage to reach him, and he was showered with the 
heartiest congratulations. 

As in his Trenton address, Mr. Wilson flung defiance to those who 
would place him in a false light before the labor organizations by de- 
claring his belief in the right and efBcacy of such organizations, wisely 
adjusted and wisely used. He again declared that it was through or- 
ganized labor, and not through protective tariff, that the workingmen 
gain increase of wages. He then went down to some of the practical 
issues of the campaign, attacked the State Water Commission as a costly 
and needless waste of the taxpayers' money, and declared that there were 
too many expensive boards and commissions in the state. 

"A machine means more offices, more offices mean more taxes," he 
said. Again he attacked corruption at the polls, making pointed al- 
lusion to the scandal which followed the recent Republican primaries in 
Cumberland County. "Other states have obtained legislation to stop 
this corruption," he said. " Has New Jersey? No. Why do you wait, 
it is easy to do." Evidently he struck a popular chord, for the audience 
applauded vigorously. Referring to the peculiar situation in this state, 
in which men and not issues figured in a contest for the United States 
senatorship, Mr. Wilson made this telling hit: 

"What has interested your leaders, and what only has interested your 
leaders, is who should be the next candidate for the United States Senate. 
That is what has stirred up the Republican leaders to their real depth; 
they have not been worried about these questions which affect the wel- 
fare, happiness, and support of the whole Commonwealth; they have 
been stirred up by the question as to whose turn it is to go to the 
United States Senate. 

"And you have had your primaries upon this interesting question. 



82 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

What was the result, gentlemen, now that the primaries are over and the 
people of New Jersey of the Republican sort are supposed to have spoken 
their choice? Nobody knows, if you have a Republican choice, whether 
that choice is going to stand or not. Men have poured out money; there 
have been workers; in one precinct, not so far away from the sound of my 
voice, there were eighty- three 'workers.' You have been stirred up to 
the depths of your souls, and now that it is all over nobody knows 
whether it counts or not. 

"Do you know what those gentlemen would do if they went to the 
Senate? You have not asked any of them. The principal question upon 
which you have wasted your time is who should go there and do what he 
pleases. He is not pledged, no one is pledged, so far as I am able to 
understand, to anything in particular or to anything in general; and it is 
very likely, I should think, from what I hear, that if they elect a majority 
upon joint ballot in the coming General Assembly, you would have to 
guess who was going to be elected to the United States Senate. 

"When you see things like this stir up great parties you know what is 
stirring them; it is not the pulse of opinion, it is the pulse of a machine. 
You know some machines; for example, take the automobile. I notice 
when the crank is started and the machine is stopped, it can tremble all 
over and never go an inch. This is the kind of vitality that is at present 
stirring the Republican organization; it is the pulse of the machine, and 
the Republican party is not getting anywhere under the impulse of that 
machine; and the men who cranked the machines are not likely to go to 
the Senate, either. 

"I am deeply interested in what the policy of the Federal Government 
is going to be, but I cannot find out from the Republican leaders " 

"You never will," interrupted a bass voice from the depths of the 
house. 

"That is my own opinion," said Mr. Wilson, laughing. "That is my 
own opinion. What we have come together to-night, therefore, to dis- 
cuss is this: not whether you like me better than you like one of these 
candidates for the United States Senate. That is not an important 
question. It is not worth wasting your time on. If I wished to pro- 
pound to you the question whether I or one of them should go to the 
United States Senate, I would not get together such an important lot of 
men like this on a wet night; it is not worth getting your feet wet for. 

"The personal choice, what does that mean? If these gentlemen stand 
for something and I stand for something, then it is important to make a 
choice between them, between what we stand for, as between what we 



ENTHUSES BRIDGETON THRONG 83 

personally desire. I may tell you confidentially that, personcilly and 
privately, considering my own convenience, I do not desire the Governor- 
ship of the state of New Jersey, because I am engaged in things now and 
have been for twenty years which I thoroughly understand and have 
managed to successfully 

"I am venturing out upon new fields. It would be a great deal more 
comfortable for me not to be Governor of New Jersey, and, therefore, I 
can say to you in all candor that I am not asking you for an office which 
I covet. But there is one thing which I do deeply covet, and that is an 
opportunity to serve the people of New Jersey in some sensible way. 

''I am told that a gentleman who was once Governor of New Jersey 
says that I never offered to serve New Jersey until I was nominated for a 
political office. Well, he was elected to a poHtical office and never 
served New Jersey, and, as between the two cases, I think mine is the 
better. It at least remains to be shown that, if elected Governor of New 
Jersey, I cannot serve the state, or whether I will sit down and do nothing 
with a degree of patience, a degree of dignity, a degree of pleasing elo- 
quence, which will not discourage the pulsations of the machine in the 
least." 

There were new experiences for Mr. Wilson in another live day of liis 
new kind of campaign. Leaving Camden at noon in the touring car 
that is carrying him over the state, he found a wide and not at all dis- 
agreeable contrast with yesterday's trying dust and heat, for, though the 
rain fell incessantly, he was snug under a warm overcoat and comfortable 
rug on the front seat, back of the wind shield, and greatly enjoyed the 
air and the freshened scenery as the car dashed along. 

The run was made direct to Vineland by way of MilKille, Glassboro, 
and Clayton, striking good state-made roads all the way, though at 
times the puddles were like little lakes and it was difficult to determine 
whether it was a sailing or an automobiling trip. Approaching Glass- 
boro, the home of Charles F. Repp, his Prohibition opponent, Mr. Wilson 
looked out and saw great orchards of rosy apples fit for the cider press, 
but was informed that none was likely to reach that stage. 

Vineland was reached promptly on the scheduled hour — 2 o'clock — 
for in all his campaign so far Mr. Wilson has been as prompt as a clock. 
Pulling up in front of the Baker House, on Landis Avenue, he was sur- 
prised and delighted to see fully 100 men who had braved the storm and 
stood awaiting his arrival. There he was met by Attorney Herbert C. 
Bartlett, local member of the County Executive Committee; Edward F. 



84 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Miller, brother of Lotus H. Miller, the former Republican Assemblyman 
from Cumberland, who insurged a little while he was in the legislature; j 
former Judge Eli B. Hendee, Editor B. F. Ladd, County Chairman 
James Craig, Rev. D. H. King, pastor of the Presbyterian Church; 
former Mayor Joseph A. Connell, Samuel P. Dunham, Democratic 
candidate for Senator, and other well-known Democrats. 

Mr. Wilson held a brief reception in the parlor of the hotel and more 
than 150 men came in to grasp his hand and assure him of unfaltering 
support. One who came was John A. Ackley, Democratic candidate for 
Mayor of the borough, who said: "I shook hands with George B. 
McClellan on the very spot where you stand in 1866, and he became 
Governor." 

"I trust that is a good omen," replied Mr. Wilson. 

Another who came was Mrs. Isabella Meyer, a prosperous woman 
farmer, who said: ''I just read twenty minutes ago that you were to 
be here and I hurried in. I am so glad to see you. I'm sure you're going 
to be elected. I can't vote for you, but I have a husband who will." 

"Very good," was Mr. Wilson's smiling reply. 

It astonished some of the representatives of Vineland to see so many 
turn out at that hour of the day to greet a Democratic candidate, for the 
borough is one of the bailiwicks of Republican Cumberland County, and 
all the discussion of the moving crowd was based upon the amazing 
strength which Mr. Wilson already had shown. 

Piloted by B. Frank Hires, State Committeeman; Brodie A. McGear 
and others, who had come over from Bridgeton to point the way, the 
party pulled out for Millville, which was reached after the eight-mile 
run over a good but somewhat muddy road. A crowd awaited them in 
front of the Weatherby House and there, in busy, hustling Millville, with 
all its glass workers, mill operatives and foundrymen hard at work, fully 
300 men sought the candidate, who received them with that pleasant 
smile which seems to win all who come into its influence. 

One who came was a grizzled old man, who said timidly, as he ap- 
proached in the line: "Will you shake hands with an old soldier? " 

"With great pleasure," replied Mr. Wilson, extending the strong hand 
that looks more like a mechanic's than a teacher's. 

"Well, sir," said the veteran, "I've been a red-hot Republican all my 
life, but I'm going to vote for you." 

"Fine," said the candidate, warmly, and he learned that the soldier 
was James Eames and that what he had said about his politics was true. 
Among others who cordially greeted the candidate were E. P. Counselor, 



ENTHUSES BRIDGETON THRONG . 85 

who said he was one of the unterrified, voting in the Fourth ward, where 
there is 175 Republican majority; Attorney Martin Lane, Democratic 
candidate for Mayor, with some chance of winning, despite the Re- 
publican aspect of the city; Samuel Souder and others, all very happy 
over the bright outlook for Wilson. 

One of the unfortunate incidents of the stop at Vineland was the en- 
forced departure of Mr. Bartlett to act as pallbearer at the funeral of 
Mrs. Abbie Bristol, an authoress of note. Six months ago Mrs. Bristol, 
then sure that death was not far off, had gone about the borough per- 
sonally requesting men of intimate acquaintance to act as pallbearers for 
her, and to please her they consented. It happened that, besides Mr. 
Bartlett, all were Democrats. 

The run of ten miles to this city was made in short time and Mr. Wil- 
son had a chance for an hour's rest before supper at the Hotel Commer- 
cial. There was another impromptu reception after the big meeting, 
for many of those who had braved the wet to hear him, some coming 
from miles away, wanted to touch his hand. Mr. Wilson will leave in 
his touring car to-morrow morning for Cape May Court House, where 
he will have luncheon and later make a short address. He will then go to 
Wildwood for the night meeting in the Hippodrome. 



XV 
FORGET STORM AT HEARING HIM 

CAPE MAY COUNTY TURNS OUT STRONGLY AT TWO BIG MEETINGS | 

Wild-wood, Oct. 8. — It amazed Woodrow Wilson to discover how many 
Cape May countians risked the discomforts of a chill, wet day and night 
to come to see and hear the man who is making the new kind of campaign 
in New Jersey. And those who came to two large meetings, one at 
Cape May Court House, this afternoon, and the other here to-night, with 
one accord expressed with decided emphasis their awakened interest. 

It was as though the elements had conspired to cast the candidate for 
a minor part, but m the play of emotions among his auditors there was 
no gainsaying the fact that his was a stellar role. In both his addresses 
Mr. Wilson continued his appeal to the broadest spirit of patriotism 
and sense of justice l3ang, as he firmly believes, inherent in the breasts of 
American citizens. He strenuously attacked machine poUtics and its 
twin evil, a corrupted ballot. 

In both his meetings this newly discovered leader of American man- 
hood and honor received many open assurances of support from the 
people irrespective of party ties. Many well-known Republicans 
appeared and warmly applauded his most telling points, especially as he 
alluded to the boss system as applied to Cape May County. The meeting 
here was held in the new Hippodrome, and, despite the steady downpour 
beating heavily upon the roof and into the open space above, the rows 
of seats contained fully 500 persons, all deeply interested in the issues in 
this campaign for better government. 

Men in oilskins and some in dusters and women in heavy winter wraps 
listened with rapt attention to the address of the night, applauding 
warmly as if no storm beat upon the storm of popular approval of the 
man upon whom the eyes of a nation are focused. Mr. Wilson stepped 
out into the ring to get closer to his audience and modestly disclaimed 
all credit for learning and greatness, as had been claimed for him by 
J. Thompson Baker's interesting and dramatic introduction. He told 
the crowd he was not seeking the Governorship and believed that no 

86 



FORGET STORM AT HEARING HIM 87 

man should seek public office in his personality, but that he was before 
the voters standing for principles. 

''I believe," said he, impressively, at the conclusion of one of the best 
addresses he has so far delivered, "that the greatest day of change has 
dawned upon America, the greatest day-dawning that has ever been 
seen, and the most dangerous thing would be the election of partisan 
candidates at tliis crisis. For America is awakening, and when America 
awakes the world sees a new play put upon the boards." 

The shout of approval which followed the sentiment drowned the roar 
of the breakers and the throb of the storm. 

Referring humorously to the fact that he had been designated as a 
schoolmaster by former Governor Griggs, Mr. Wilson said: 

"It is significant in my mind that we are not in an ordinary political 
campaign. It is perhaps extraordinary in the circumstances that a 
schoolmaster is on one side. I am proud to be a schoolmaster, and I 
wish that some of the gentlemen who are opposing the policies I am in 
favor of had attended school to some purpose. They may some time 
have known things that would be now to their advantage, but it is inter- 
esting that the same gentlemen have not hesitated, when the state was 
in need of money, to appropriate part of the school fund in order to pay 
the running expenses of the government, so that it is no wonder that 
they look askance at a schoolmaster." 

Returning to the main theme of his address, the return of the old 
spirit in American affairs, Mr. Wilson said : 

"There is a new tide in politics, a new tide which is running very 
strong. It runs throughout the country, and yet, perhaps, it is not a 
new tide, but the return of the old tide — the tide of the politics of sym- 
pathy and of the comprehension of policies which has not run for so long 
in our politics. We are now feeling the rise of the waters that used to 
f'oat the Ship of State in America, the time when men were concerned 
not so much with the success of the parties as with the success of 
policies. 

"You know what has happened throughout the length and breadth 
of this country in recent years. Opinion has broken away from the 
parties, opinion has risen supreme, but our politicians in New Jersey are 



88 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

trying to persuade you to conduct your affairs as if there had not been 
any awakening of judgment on the part of the citizens of the Common- 
wealth to public interests. But the thing will not do; this opinion is not 
manageable, it cannot be manipulated, cannot be silenced, cannot be 
resisted. 

"It is not for the benefit of the people that it is necessary that the 
expenditures of the Government have nearly quadrupled in a period of 
about twelve years. But that is not confined to New Jersey. The ex- 
penses of the Federal Government have increased three times more 
rapidly than has the population of the United States within those three 
years. Everywhere money is being put out like water and we are 
paying the bills. 

" Of course, the money is not spent out of the pockets of those who con- 
duct the Government, but it is spent out of your pockets. What have 
we gained? Well, we have gained something, not directly out of the ex- 
penditure, but out of the things that have resulted from the expenditure. 
It is a very singular circumstance that a Republican President of the 
United States called the attention of the whole country to the misuse of 
power by his own party and by all those who have been concerned in 
public affairs. 

"Is there a solid Republican party in New Jersey? Do you know 
what your leaders have been interested in in recent months? They have 
not been debating your welfare; they have been debating who should 
be sent to the United States Senate. They have not been interested in 
the matters in which they should have been interested, in the matters of 
change of policy. 

"The managers of the country are certain persons who have been in- 
terested in party control as the policy for running the Government. It 
is not a new circumstance; this has happened in past times to the Demo- 
cratic party. I want you to understand that I am not delivering a 
partisan speech, and I never shall deliver a partisan speech. I want to 
say very frankly that this is something which in past years has happened 
to the Democratic party, and the pity of politics is that if you leave men 
in power long enough to give them the impression that the party machine 
can at its pleasure command the majority of the votes, then this thing 
will happen to it. 

"They will become indifferent, as they have become indifferent to the 
real movement of conviction in the ranks of their own party and among 
their own people. They will assume, as they have assumed, that the 
interest of the people of New Jersey is to keep certain Republican leaders 




HON. J THOMPSON BAKER 



FORGET STORM AT HEARING HIM 89 

in charge when the real interest of the people of New Jersey is to serve 
their best interests by the right policies." 

Going after machine politics, of which Cape May County has a very 
intimate acquaintance, the speaker said: "A great political machine 
builds up its fortunes and success in the midst of things as they are and 
considers itself under bonds to see that those things are not changed, 
because they don't know whether they can make their calculations under 
the changed circumstances or not, and so they are under bonds to the 
existing order. But the existing order is susceptible in this country only 
to those who have exceptionally profited by it. It does not achieve 
justice or bring about the kind of progress that is most desired, and so, 
throughout our survey of modern conditions, we see how natural it is, 
I dare say how inevitable it is, that men in charge of public afifairs for 
years together should allow themselves to be governed by things as they 
are. I want to be perfectly fair and not insinuate that the grosser kind 
of corruption is involved in this matter. I don't want to intimate that 
the public men have yielded to temptation that other men would not 
have yielded to. I am pointing to circumstances, not making accusa- 
tions, and they are indisputable as I have stated them. 

"Extravagance has for its foundation, what? What do you get if 
you are a member of a political machine? What do you get by large 
appropriations out of the public fund? No money to line your pocket 
with, but new offices for your friends, new opportunities of patronage, 
the general feeling that people will stand by you and your associates; 
that there shall be lots of money to spend upon contracts, offices, and im- 
provements of various kinds, and therefore the thing to do is to stand 
by the people who have access to the general fund. 

"That is the kind of power that comes out of the expenditure of large 
sums of money, and the Republican machine at the present moment has 
by that calculation four times as much power as the Democratic machine 
that it displaced fifteen to sixteen years ago. That is the most 
demoralizing sort of power that can possibly exist, because you tie 
scores of men to you by self-interest rather than by patriotic con- 
viction." 

Mr. Wilson caused a significant titter in the audience, so well ac- 
quainted with Senator "Bob" Hand, when he said: "You know a boss 
when you see him and you know what he does. Now, do you like it? 
Do you think he is accomplishing anything substantial for your welfare? 
Do you think he is in business for his health? Do you think he regards 
it as a public service or private business? I don't have to answer these 



Qo A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

questions for you. And do you like going through the motions at the 
bidding of such persons?" 

This is the way in which Mr. Wilson hit back effectively at the Re- 
publican leaders who thought the first week of his campaign had been a 
failure: 

" I spent the first week of my campaign trying to set forth what I con- 
sidered the principles upon which the Democratic party was trying to 
act, I noticed that some of my Republican critics have said that I spent 
that week in glittering generalities. I do not wonder at that, for they 
have not looked a principle in the face so long that they do not know one 
when they see it. 

"Now, I wish that principles could glitter as generalities until they 
constituted the sun by which men would guide their steps, in which all 
should stand in the air of the glitter, the gleam of compelling light of the 
things that we call principles; and a man that despises principles as 
glittering generalities has absolutely no compass by which to steer; he is 
steering by the compass of expediency. 

"He says I would like my opponent to get down to particulars so that 
I could catch him, trip him up on some detail and then I will check him. 
I cannot meet him. No, I cannot meet him on this field of high ideals. 
If they cannot meet us upon this field of high ideals then they will be 
overthrown in the contest, because the American people are now turning 
back to past policies, to the ideals upon which this Government was built 
up, and chief of all is that ideal which says that Government ought to 
thrive in every pulse in sympathy for the common people. They are 
recovering the breath that they had in that day of hope." 

Mr. Wilson seemed rather to enjoy the cliill, wet day and the water- 
soaked scenery through which he passed in the drive from Bridge ton. 
He was snugly wrapped in a big winter overcoat and occupied his regular 
seat beside the careful and capable chauffeur, John S. Kinsey, who has 
carried him over many miles of South Jersey roads. Well protected 
from the cold, incessant drizzle, he said the air braced him, and he was in 
fine, good humor all day. The wonderful cordiality with which he was 
received by the Cumberland County voters, the warm assurances he had 
from Republicans that they had enlisted in his cause, and the whole out- 
look pleased him. 

Evans G. Slaughter, who was Senator "Bob" Hand's opponent last 



FORGET STORM AT HEARING HIM 91 

year, and Attorney Matthew Jefferson, Cape May County Democrats, 
had come up from Wildwood to pilot the party in the run into their baili- 
wick, and they had seats in the candidate's car with State Chairman 
Nugent and Mayor Hampton, candidate for Congress. The start was 
made from Bridgeton at 10.30 o'clock, and at the turn of the road on the 
west border of Millville the car was stopped by the shout of a man from 
the street. 

"Hey, we want to see Wilson." In a minute men seemed to pop out 
of the ground and gather to grasp the hand of the candidate who "looked 
good" to them. After that it was a straightaway run through Leesburg, 
beyond which several miles of rather bad road were struck in which some 
bad chuck holes and ponds of water made the going somewhat slow. 
Below Dennisville, however, one of the fine links in the coming ocean 
boulevard was struck — a fine, even, well-packed gravel road leading 
all the way to Cape May Court House, forty miles from Bridgeton, 
which was reached at 12.30 o'clock, with no speed laws \dolated. 

There the car pulled up at the Hotel Bellevue, upon the porch of which 
waited a large group of Cape May County men, for whom the rain had 
no terrors. Among these were Mayor Fred J. Mehdn, of Cape May, 
candidate for Sheriff; former Assemblyman O. T. Blackwell, of Wild- 
wood, candidate for Assembly; State Committeeman Michael Kearns, 
Llewellyn Hildreth, secretary of the County Committee, and William 
Porter, Register of Cape May and leader of the band which emitted 
music with skill and energy. 

Dinner was served at the hotel and the candidate was escorted up the 
street to the old courthouse, a relic of bygone years, with its pew-like 
benches and oil lamps. It had been presumed that perhaps 100 persons 
might assemble there on such a dripping day. It amazed the leaders and 
the candidate, therefore, to find the room crowded and many persons 
standing. The room seats about 200 persons, and there were fully 100 
more in it. And the appearance of Mr. Wilson was the signal for a hearty 
greeting, while William Porter's tooters played "Hail to the Chief." 



XVI 

HAS GRIP ON JERSEY VOTERS 

"new kind of campaign" has people in all parts of 
state aroused 

Trenton, Oct. 9. — The managers of the Democratic campaign are en- 
tirely satisfied with the progress thus far made and the undoubted 
strength which Woodrow Wilson is gaining in his swing around the state. 
They are sure that their candidate for Governor is making ground fast 
in his new kind of canvass and they get reports from all sections of the 
state showing that they have a fine chance of winning. 

As for himself Mr. Wilson cannot understand how it is that so many 
people get out to hear him, and his only explanation is that the feeling of 
the great mass of people regarding political conditions is aroused to a 
state of revolt, and that the large and enthusiastic meetings he gets 
everywhere mean not so much curiosity for or interest in him as in the 
principles for which he stands. At Wildwood last night, for instance, 
when 500 persons waded out in the wet streets and let the heavy rain beat 
upon them in their desire to see and to hear him, he was nonplussed by 
the demonstration of interest, taking unto himself nothing of the credit 
for having stirred the latent energies of the voters by his new sort of 
campaign speech. 

There is every reason to suppose that if this sort of thing keeps up it 
will not be possible to get halls big enough to hold the people who will 
want to hear him before the end of the battle is reached. He warms 
every heart that comes into contact with him and he has such a faculty 
for driving home the truths as he sees them that people carry away a 
conviction that he must be right. At Bridgeton last Friday night a 
leading RepubHcan manager of Cumberland County declared: "I 
don't wonder he gets the people out. I could have listened to him an 
hour longer. Three years ago, when Governor Fort was the candidate 
and Governor Stokes was chairman of the meeting, we had not more than 
half the people this man Wilson had to-night, and if he keeps this up the 
four more weeks of the campaign he will sweep the state by a majority 



HAS GRIP ON JERSEY VOTERS 93 

that will stagger the Republicans. He gets a grip on people that sticks, 
and those who think most are the ones he grips hardest, so that the teach- 
ings of his addresses are carried in the minds of those who will have 
marked influence over their neighbors. With that feeling spreading 
into all parts of the state there is no doubt as to what will happen." 

It is something so new for a candidate to preach plain, homely truths 
and to present the loftier and more ennobling sentiments in a political 
campaign in New Jersey that those who have been accustomed to hear 
men rant and pace the platform, and run hysterical fingers through di- 
shevelled hair in their frantic cries for support for the tariff, are surprised 
and delighted. Mr. Wilson explains that his Republican critics who 
have found fault with the character of his addresses because he has not 
reached the bedrock of state affairs will soon enough have no cause for 
further criticism on that score, as he has been only feeling his way along 
a new line of activity for him. And those who have been in close touch 
with him since he opened his fight less than two weeks ago are sure that 
he will. 

The Republican leaders profess to be unafraid of Mr. Wilson's can- 
didacy, expressing the belief that he will not last to the end of the fight, 
but that appears to be founded upon the hope that he will not. They 
have been unable to get together for a settlement of their factional dif- 
ferences, and some of the rank and file wonder if there is going to be any 
campaign at all. Banking Commissioner Lewis opened his campaign 
last night and gave his Hudson County audience the assurance that all 
the people need do is to trust the Republican party to do for them what- 
soever they wish, but Mr. Wilson's whole argument is that the Republi- 
can leaders who control the party organization can no longer be trusted 
to do the things the people want and that that fact was clearly demon- 
strated in the convention which named Mr. Lewis, who found it neces- 
sary to insist upon a pledge for the rate-making power for the Public 
Utilities Commission. Mr. Lewis' insistence upon that pledge may aid 
him, and he is personally popular, but Mr. Wilson declares that the 
people are not looking to men now, but to the principles for which they 
stand, and that in this new awakening of the American spirit of inde- 
pendence will come the triumph of that great body of patriots who 
believe the nation cannot live if existing conditions are permitted to 
continue. 

One of the first measures which Mr. Wilson will ask for in the event of 
his election will be an act to forever wipe out corrupt practices, the de- 
bauchery of the ballot, which is becoming more and more unpopular and 



94 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

dangerous. He has been addressing people in two of the counties where 
that practice is said to prevail to such an extent as to tax the credulity 
of the outsider who should be told of it. When a primary fight for a 
legislative seat can cost one man something tike $30,000, while his 
opponent may not have had quite so big a pile, there is evidently some- 
thing dead wrong about the elective system which needs quick attention, 
Mr. Wilson holds, and he adds that the only way it is likely to get at- 
tention is by the enactment of far more stringent laws upon the subject 
than now stand in this state. He wonders why such laws have not been 
passed by New Jersey when other states have them, and he says there 
is no chance of getting them through the present party leaders, some of 
whom have connived at the debauchery for their own and the special 
interests' advantage. 

The Republicans have made the claim that they have widely extended 
the system of good roads, and that that explains one of the reasons for 
the immense increase in the total annual expenditures, and Mr. Wilson 
graciously accords them full credit for all they have done in that respect, 
but holds that there are a great many very bad roads which might have 
been improved with the funds wasted in useless ways. The Republicans 
claim that they have given to the great public school system of the state 
a much wider latitude and educational advantages to a much larger 
number of children than ever before, and Mr. Wilson grants that, but 
says that excellent work, in which he is so deeply interested and for which 
he may be expected to do his utmost in case of his election, might be in- 
creased many fold by judicious, economical methods in the conduct of 
the state's business. The Republicans have several candidates for United 
States Senator who have been fighting for recognition and support to 
the extent that they have well-nigh disrupted the party, but, Mr. Wil- 
son says, only one of them has laid down any statement as to where he 
stands upon the vital questions which stir the nation, and all the rest of 
the candidates are arrayed against him. Thus the fight goes bravely on, 
and there are many Republicans who regard the situation as nothing 
to their liking. They have the notion that practically all the fighting is 
from the other side and that they have been placed upon the defensive 
from the start, a rather new position for the Republicans of New Jersey 
to be in. 



XVII 
LEWIS' HOME CITY WELCOMES 

CROWDS TOO LARGE FOR ALL TO GET WITHIN HEARING OF HIS 
VOICE TENDER A GREETING 

Paterson, Oct. ii. — In the home city of his Republican opponent 
Woodrow Wilson to-night began the third week of his new kind of cam- 
paign under conditions that must have flattered him. He addressed the 
largest and most enthusiastic assemblage that yet has welcomed him, 
and he felt the thrill of a broad encouragement, so that, in his message 
to the people of New Jersey, a call to action against misgovernment, 
he declared himself an insurgent, saying: 

"I am and always have been an insurgent. Insurgency is the best 
prescription for good government." That that was a popular sentiment 
with his vast audience was instantly manifested by a storm of applause. 

"By insurgency I mean," he continued, "the application of knowledge 
and intelligence to the betterment of government. This insurgency is 
not against government, but it is against the private management of 
government." 

Throughout the address, which was interrupted by frequent strong 
demonstrations of approval on the part of the vast assemblage, Mr. 
Wilson was at ease and within easy grasp of every situation. He called 
for a revision of the corporation laws of the state to better regulate and 
control the corporations, but declared modestly that he was not pre- 
pared to say just what was the best thing to do and defied any man to 
say what was best. 

He declared that a better employers' liability law is needed, but he 
was not ready to say in so short a space of time as allotted to him m a 
public meeting what is best in that respect. He said the taxation and 
assessment laws of the state need careful revision, but no man or set of 
men can very readily determine the exact solution of these vexatious 
problems of government. 

"I shall make but one promise to you," declared the candidate with 
marked emphasis, "and that is that I shall use the best of my brains to 

95 



96 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

give the people of New Jersey good and honest government. If I am 
elected Governor I shall ask impertinent questions, I shall thrust myself 
into the inner workings of things and I shall enjoy myself talking about 
them. As far as in me hes I want to bring about in New Jersey a govern- 
ment by popular opinion." 

It was one of the largest and most enthusiastic political meetings this 
live, hustling town of silk and locomotives ever has seen, and it was plain 
to even the rank outsider that, though it is the home of State Banking 
Commissioner Vivian M. Lewis, the Republican candidate, and though 
Passaic gave Senator George S. Silzer its votes in the convention, there 
was loyal Democratic support for Wilson and an openly demonstrative 
feeling for the Princeton man. 

The Opera House was so jammed by the time the meeting was ready 
to start that fully looo persons were unable to get even a nose into a door, 
while hundreds of men stood on the stairways leading to the balcony and 
gallery, listening to but not seeing the candidate. The stage was filled 
with prominent Democrats, while in the first row of the balcony seats 
sat Congressman Charles N. Fowler, who was defeated for renomination 
in the Fifth district because of his insurgency. He afterward said that 
he believed Mr. Wilson was one of the greatest men of the day, and that 
he would be heard from in no uncertain way in America. He showed 
marked appreciation of the speech, which pleased all the people mightily, 
and scored another triumph for the leader of the movement for good 
government. 

The meeting was called to order by County Chairman Flynn, and 
Mayor Alexander J. McBride, the chairman, presented Congressman 
"Billy" Hughes, who never has been defeated in this the Sixth district, 
but who has such a grip upon the industrial classes that he sweeps every- 
thing before him at every election. Congressman Hughes made a 
lively, entertaining speech of a half hour, and gave way to Mr. Wilson, 
who was visibly affected by the long and vociferous reception given him 
as he stepped to the front. 

"I have been travelling now a good many miles in this state," said he, 
"and I have looked into the faces of a number of great audiences. 
Everywhere I recognize what I recognize here to-night, that bodies of 
men are coming together, not out of curiosity to see an individual, but 
out of eagerness to hear what can be said in what they know to be a cause, 
the cause of good government, the cause of government for the people, 
the cause of government which shall be rid of all the influences of which 



LEWIS' HOME CITY WELCOMES 97 

men from one end of this country to the other have got tired and of which 
they mean to be rid. There is no mistaking the spirit which is now in the 
people of New Jersey. 

"The cause upon which we are met is the purification of politics, is the 
freeing of politics from the management of machine organizations. Now, 
mind you, when I speak of the purification of politics I am not speaking, 
perhaps, of what suggests itself to you, I am not speaking of bribery and 
the gross forms of corruption, I am not thinking of what we have been so 
ashamed, of that which has been disclosed in recent investigations, for 
example, in a neighboring state. Those things will presently become im- 
possible; they are becoming impossible; they will become so impressed in 
public opinion that it will not be possible longer to do tilings of that sort. 

" Men will not dare receive money to debauch the process of legislation; 
but that is not what we have to fear. We have to fear a deeper and more 
dangerous thing that has taken place. We have to fear making a busi- 
ness of political management in the interests of special groups of persons; 
we have to fear that kind of management which does not rest upon public 
opinion, does not rest upon pubUc discussion, does not rest upon any- 
thing except the will and agreement of party managers. 

"The present tariff could never have been built up item by item by 
public discussion, and you know it could never have existed if, item by 
item, it had been explained to the people of this country. It was built 
up by arrangement and management of a political organization repre- 
sented in the Senate of the United States by the Senator from Rhode 
Island and in the House of Representatives by one of the Representatives 
from Illinois. These gentlemen did not build that tariff upon the evi- 
dence that was given before the Committee of Ways and Means as to 
what the manufacturers and workingmen, the consumers and producers, 
of this comitry demanded. It was not built upon what the interests of 
the country called for. It was built upon understandings arrived at 
outside of the room where testimony was given and debate was held, 

"That payment of money is very easily detected, and men of this 
kind who control these interests by secret arrangement would not con- 
sent to receive a dollar in money. They are following then: own prin- 
ciples, that is to say, the principles which they think and act upon, and 
they think that they are perfectly honorable and incorruptible men, 
but they believe something that I do not believe and I do not believe 
you believe. They believe that the prosperity of this country depends 
upon the arrangements which certain party leaders make with the busi- 
ness leaders of the country. They believe that, but the proposition has 



98 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

merely to be stated to a jury like yourselves to be rejected. The pros- 
perity of this country depends upon the interests of all of us and cannot 
be brought about by arrangement between any groups of persons. 

"It has been said that in some of my speeches I have been indulging in 
glittering generalities," said Mr. Wilson later. "I thought I was in- 
dulging in the statement of principles, but it is so long since these gentle- 
men looked at principles that they do not know them when they see 
them, and I am not surprised at their calling them 'glittering generalities.' 
They don't glitter, but they reflect light; they glitter by reason of the 
light that burns in the heart of the men themselves, the light of con- 
viction, the light of principle, for they are the principles that have been 
written upon the shield of America ever since she became a nation; they 
are the principles which are expressed in the participation of the Amer- 
ican people in their own affairs." 

Mr. Wilson was met at Newark by State Chairman Nugent and they 
motored over to this city, reaching the Hamilton Club, the Silk City's 
foremost social organization, where they had dinner with Congressman 
"Billy" Hughes, Mayor Andrew J. McBride, former Senator John 
Hinchliffe, County Chairman Thomas Flynn, City Coimsel Edward 
Murray, Publisher Robert Goodbody, former State Chairman William B. 
Gourley, and William Fanning. 



XVIII 
AT SHRINE OF GREAT LEADER 

BREATHES INSPIRATION IN PRESENCE OF SCENES WHERE CLEVE- 
LAND WAS BORN 

Caldwell, Oct. 12. — In the birthplace of Grover Cleveland here, to-day 
and to-night Woodrow Wilson was accorded signal honor. In the after- 
noon there was a great outpouring of people at the Cleveland homestead, 
a throng out of all proportion to the dimensions of the little borough and 
not at all in consonance with a strong tendency to give Republican ma- 
jorities on election day. 

To-night at Monomonock Inn, on the top of Second Watchung Moun- 
tain, fully 200 Democratic leaders of social, professional and business 
affairs of the upper part of the state gathered at a beautiful dinner in 
his honor, and the atmosphere of both large gatherings was laden with 
that new spirit of freedom the man has aroused in the breasts of his fol- 
lowers. The pilgrimage to the Cleveland home astonished Mr. Wilson, 
because, instead of the hundred or so persons he expected to encounter 
there, he found a crowd of fully 3000, at whose demand he was compelled 
to make a short address. In his few remarks he showed the broad- 
gauge manhood that actuates him, when, standing upon the threshold of 
the historic old house, he said it was no time to think of himself, but to 
recall to mind the man who had done so much for his fellows. 

Nor could the day's program be accurately designated as a part of the 
plan of campaign, for it was directed rather to the social aspects of the 
outlook and he made no real campaign speech. It was presumed that 
the day's feature would be the dinner tendered by the Democratic Union, 
but the unexpected and enthusiastic demonstration at the Cleveland 
place stood out clearly and definitely as the strongest note yet struck. 

Michael Dunn, former City Counsel of Paterson, was toastmastcr 
and he sounded the keynote of the gathering, a crystallization of the 
effort to bring about a revival of the principles of government under the 
Constitution. In presenting the honored guest he looked back to that 
spirit of unrest and desire for a change which brought about the election 

99 



loo A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

of Cleveland in 1888. He likened that great movement to that now 
everywhere apparent and conspicuous in the choice of Mr. Wilson as its 
leader. 

A great storm of applause greeted Mr. Wilson as he rose to speak to the 
toast " Grover Cleveland." He had been preceded by Dr. Austin Scott, 
president emeritus of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, who paid a 
touching tribute to the distinguished guest, whom, he said, he had known 
and honored for years, and he exclaimed, " Men of New Jersey, you made 
no mistake when you took up this great man as your leader. He will 
be the next Governor of New Jersey, and, as under the Constitution he 
cannot be reelected, I present him as the candidate of the Democratic 
party for the Presidency of the United States." 

Then came the flash of fire that set the big company into a roar and 
almost brought the tears to the eyes of this man of the hour. It was 
many seconds before he could command his voice, and then in his first 
utterances, a fine tribute to the man who guided the nation so well and 
with no trace of a self-consciousness, he drew the concentrated attention 
and eloquent admiration of his auditors. 

Among the leading Democrats present at the dinner it was the distinct 
impression that a new page in New Jersey history had been written and 
that here, on this high spot, overlooking miles of the most beautiful 
sections of the state, was given birth a new and lasting pledge of fealty 
to the nation. 

It was an extraordinarily surprising day for Mr. Wilson, one that he 
can never forget — a striking feature clearly outlined against the horizon 
of many striking features that have been brought out in his new kind of 
campaign. 

Arriving at Caldwell, which is eight miles from the throbbing centre of 
Newark, Mr. Wilson was astonished to see what had happened. On the 
wide lawn in front of the Cleveland homestead, under the superb old 
trees, a great, expectant crowd had gathered. Many occupied camp 
chairs, others sat on the grass, but hundreds stood on the sidewalk await- 
ing the arrival of the man of whom the people of the county had heard so 
much. A band was also there to give forth its best while awaiting the 
orator, and the moving crowd passed in and out of the old house, dec- 
orated with the Princeton orange and black and a profusion of ''Old 
Glory." The band played "Hail to the Chief" as Mr. Wilson appeared 
and a cheer went up from the throng, and the committeemen really had 
to push him up the narrow stone walk to the house, which is now the 
parsonage of the Caldwell Presbyterian Church, of which Rev, Nelson 



AT SHRINE OF GREAT LEADER loi 

B. Chester is pastor. Mr. Chester cordially greeted Mr. Wilson and a 
committee of ladies of the church also bade him welcome. 

Mr. Wilson was shown to the little room on the ground floor in the 
northwest corner of the house where Cleveland opened his eyes upon the 
world. A bronze tablet attesting the historic incident interested Mr. 
Wilson greatly, and he seemed to breathe fresh inspiration for the work 
he has mapped out for himself. Dr. Charles F. Cramer, of Caldwell, who 
came near defeating Congressman R. Wayne Parker two years ago, and 
Coi. James C. Sprigg, president of the Democratic Union of New 
Jersey, acted as his escort, and introduced Mr. Wilson to the delighted 
committee of women. 

Meantime the crowd outside had increased to thousands and was press- 
ing about the house, eager to get a glimpse of the kindly face that has 
won the hearts of so many people in the past two weeks. Yielding to the 
pressure, Mr. Wilson consented to make a brief address, and, stepping 
out on the tiny porch, he was presented by Colonel Sprigg as the "next 
Governor of New Jersey." The throng of 3000 or more pressing about 
the doorway sent up a cheer which brought a sunny smile of appre- 
ciation to Mr. Wilson's strong and rugged face. 

"It is a most unexpected pleasure to see so many of my fellow-citizens 
here to-day," said Mr. Wilson, deeply moved by the mark of approval. 
"I didn't know what was in store and I owe you my hearty thanks. 
Standing in this place, I do not and can not think of myself; my thought 
goes out to the great Democrat born in this house and whose example 
of character and moral force, quahties that were inherent in him, must 
have been due in great measure to his early training in this place. It 
has often been claimed that Mr. Cleveland had no touch of brilUancy or 
originahty, but he had the judgment and force of character behind him 
which count for originahty. It was like the great, wild wind that comes 
and clears the whole air so that we see the beauty of the hills revealed. 
The wind has merely blown the mist away. It would be a wholesome 
thing if every candidate for ofhce could come and spend some time in 
contemplation in this place." 

The throng quickly caught the spirit of the brief address and cheered 
and applauded lustily. 

Professor Edward Berres Wright, of Ocean Grove, a gray-haired man, 
with gold-rimmed spectacles, was presented by Colonel Sprigg as a man 
who had campaigned with Lincoln. He made a five-minute speech of the 



I02 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

real campaign sort, declaring that he had stumped Ohio for Lincoln and 
had stood by the G. O. P. as long as it was reputable, but he was very 
sorry to say that it was no longer the party of Lincoln and he could stick 
to it no longer. 

The crowd seemed so eager to meet the candidate that Mr. Wilson 
consented to hold an impromptu reception, and then in the little parlor 
of the parsonage, aided by Doctor Cramer, Judge Hahn and Judge Herr, 
he shook the hands of the passing throng which came in a stream. 
Among the callers was Mrs. Howell Jones, whose husband is an old 
Princeton alumnus, and she was particularly pleased to meet the head of 
the great university. Some remark was dropped about the fatigue of 
the handshaking, and Mrs. Jones said, with a merry smile, "You will 
be used to that when you reach the White House." 

Scores expressed admiration of the man openly, and many Republicans 
came, promising support; children came shyly and women smilingly; 
aged men wanted to talk, but all were eager to see the man who appears 
to have risen for the crisis. The procession continued almost three 
quarters of an hour, and might have been going on yet had not consider- 
ate friends of Mr. Wilson stopped it before he became exhausted. Yet 
Mr. Wilson said he enjoyed it very much. It was one more new experi- 
ence for him in his new kind of campaign. After the reception Mr. 
Wilson was taken to the Kingsley School, a mile or so away, in Essex 
Fells, where he addressed the lads. After that he was given a chance 
for an hour's rest prior to to-night's dinner. 



XIX 

FINDS TEXT IN MACHINE ITSELF 

TELLS GREAT ATLANTIC CITY AUDIENCE OF CORRUPTION THAT 
HOLDS THEIR CITY TIGHT 

Atlantic City, Oct. 13. — In one of the greatest fortresses of machine 
politics in the country, Woodrow Wilson to-night made what is regarded 
as the strongest, most telhng speech of his whole vigorous campaign. 
It was made, too, to the largest and most demonstrative audience ever 
gathered by the Democrats in Atlantic County. It astounded the 
managers themselves. They were expecting nothing Uke it under con- 
ditions such as hold in Altantic City, where Congressman John J. Gard- 
ner is the oracle and Commodore Louis Kuehnle is the king. 

The telling speech was directed to corruption in pohtics, to the open 
and flagrant debauchery of the ballot, to the abject subserviency of the 
weary people to the RepubHcan machine, which, Mr. Wilson declared, 
is responsible for the intolerable conditions. He broadly attacked the 
legislative record on the Pubhc Utilities Commission question, applying 
it to the local situation, where, under competition, the consumers had 
cheap gas, but the absorption of a competing company immediately 
boosted the price and there was no redress. 

Again he spoke of the situation regarding the doubling of trolley fares 
to the mainland by a similar process and again there was no redress, 
though the travelling public set up a vigorous protest. For these mis- 
fortunes Mr. Wilson suggested that his auditors hold to account their 
representative in the legislature. Colonel Walter E. Edge, who was 
leader in the Assembly last winter, when all efforts to give the Utilities 
Commission the rate-making power were side-tracked by the same 
machine, and that machine, he said, had again promised to give such 
legislation. 

"It is for you, gentlemen," said Mr. Wilson at the conclusion of his 
great speech, "to make up your minds through which men and by which 
roads you are going to accomplish the most in your time." It was the 
most impressive address the candidate has yet made, perhaps the most 

103 



104 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

impressive meeting. The theatre on the Steeplechase Pier, seating 1200, 
was so filled before 8 o'clock, the hour fixed for the candidate's appear- 
ance, that scores present were standing and, as he appeared and walked 
up the side aisle, the place was literally jammed and Mr. Wilson's ap- 
pearance on the platform was the signal for a lusty cheer, long pro- 
longed. 

Counselor Clarence L. Cole, who bravely fights the battles of Democ- 
racy in season and out under all discouragement here, presided and in 
introducing the candidate said that those who followed the fortunes, or 
rather misfortunes, of the Democratic party in Atlantic County were 
surprised by such a tremendous turning out of the people, because it has 
for years been considered a large gathering when 200 or 300 appeared 
for a Democratic meeting. 

"Back of it," he said, "is a meaning and a cause; it is a fitting tribute 
to a truly great man. With a powerful man of national reputation 
like Woodrow Wilson as the Democratic candidate for Governor, the 
candidacy on the Republican ticket of a weak and negative man like 
Lewis would be a joke." 

The great audience was quick to grasp the anomaly of the situation 
and between laughs it broke into a storm of applause and cheers that 
broke forth again and again, many women in the audience joining 
heartily with their gloved hands. Mr. Wilson was moved greatly by 
the tribute to his personality and he showed it as he stood gazing out 
over the vast army of eager listeners. 

"I do not feel that I can gratify or satisfy the anticipations of an 
audience like this, but I do want to discuss with you, very candidly and 
simply indeed, the matters which I know we all regard as of the deepest 
concern, not only to ourselves indi\ddually but as of much greater conse- 
quence to the great Commonwealth of which we are citizens. 

"I find myself now upon the political platform in these recent days in 
a somewhat peculiar position. When I started out upon this campaign 
we were discussing the issues which seemed to be raised by the difference 
between the platform adopted by the Democratic party and the plat- 
form adopted by the Republican party for the state campaign. In 
recent days the candidate of the Republican party, a gentleman for 
whom I have a great respect, has promulgated practically a platform 
that is one which differs very radically from the platform of the party 
promulgated in convention, and, as he adds item after item to that 
platform, I find that it very greatly resembles my own. 



FINDS TEXT IN MACHINE ITSELF 105 

"So I experience a sense of relief, therefore, in finding that there is no 
issue between Mr. Lewis and myself. This eUminates personal con- 
siderations. I have nothing in any circumstances except what is com- 
plimentary to say about Mr. Lewis, and personal consideration would, 
so far as I am concerned, never enter in any case, but I mean that there 
appears to be no personal issue between me and the Republican candi- 
date in respect of the sort of legislation we would desire to see adopted 
in New Jersey. 

"The question you are called upon to consider, therefore, is whether 
the Repubhcan leaders, standing alongside Mr. Lewis, will assist and 
permit him to carry out his ideas with regard to that government. I 
do not see how to escape that statement of the question. You have 
now to determine, in view of what he has recently said, whether you 
think that he or I is most likely to do the thing which he intends. 

"What are the things that we are interested in? There are a great 
many of them, and I am not going to be tedious by enumerating all of 
them. I want to take merely a few specimens, and I want to choose 
those specimens with regard to what I suppose you have been thinking. 
For example, you have been thinking about the conferring upon the 
proper commission — a commission which already exists in name, at any 
rate, the PubHc Utilities Commission — a proper set of powers in order 
that they can have the power to regulate instead of the power to 
advise. 

"You know how great a question that is; you know what great in- 
terests are involved; you know that what we all want is a commission 
which has a rate-making power. The rate-making power does not 
apply merely to railways, either the great steam railways of this state 
or the great trolley lines of this state. It applies also to the rates charged 
for water and gas and all these public utilities which so nearly concern 
our convenience and comfort. 

"There are, for example, two competing companies supplying a town 
with gas. Each is charging 50 cents for gas. The one buys the other 
out and the result is a charge of $1 for gas. That may or may not be 
legitimate. It may, for all I know, not have paid either of the original 
companies to supply gas at 50 cents, but when they have combined and 
are without competition and have the control of the whole business, we 
would, at any rate, like to know why it is necessary that they should 
charge $1. We should like to have a commission which can find out, 
and upon some perfectly fair basis — for I am not in favor of confiscat- 
ing legitimate profits-— establish the rates which shall be charged, so that 



io6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

there will be a real connection between what the pubHc has discovered 
to be the basis of the business and the pubhc convenience and comfort. 

"This appHes to the railway companies, to the transportation com- 
panies, as well as to the other public utilities. We would like to know 
why we cannot go still for five cents to the neighboring towns. If we 
had what we want, a commission with powers to determine, powers to 
regulate, they would be obliged to investigate it and tell us exactly 
what the cause was, and if non-competitive conditions exist, they 
would have the right to give us the benefit of the non-competitive 
conditions. That illustrates perfectly what we want and what we mean 
to have. 

"Very well, then, let us view the situation that we may determine by 
our votes on the eighth of November. Mr. Lewis also desires that the 
Pubhc Utilities Commission should have the power to regulate rates, 
and I suppose that he wishes, as I wish, that it should have the power of 
determining the basis of those charges so that the regulation will not be 
arbitrary or unreasonable. 

"Is it Hkely Mr. Lewis can bring that about through the instrumen- 
talities now in charge of the RepubUcan party? What has been your 
experience, gentlemen? This same, unaltered organization that you 
have now has been in charge of the Republican party — I don't mean the 
rank and file of the Republican party, because they have wished to God 
they were not in control of the RepubHcan party spoken of as an or- 
ganization — this same group of men have been in charge of that or- 
ganization during the last three years, and this same promise was made 
by the party and its candidate in the year 1907. Why has that promise 
not been fulfilled? 

"And is it any more Hkely that it will be fulfilled under the present 
candidate than it was then under the candidate of three years ago? 
There is a very practical question for you to answer, and you had 
better ask that question of some gentleman very near at home, who 
was the leader of the Assembly during those three years. It may be, 
ladies and gentlemen, that that leader was himself in favor — I don't 
know — of redeeming that pledge ; but the leader of the Assembly is 
generally the representative of the party organization. He does not 
act as an individual; he acts as the representative and the spokesman 
of certain party determinations. 

"Very well, acting whether or not upon his own opinion and impulse, 
that leader assisted and led in the effort that killed that bill. That is 
not an understanding; that is a fact. As a certain friend of mine, with 



FINDS TEXT IN MACHINE ITSELF 107 

whom I got in an argument, said, 'I am not arguing it with you; I am 
telling you.' And you don't need to be told; you knew it already. If 
you want to know whether it is likely that the same organization will 
back Mr. Lewis in doing what it has not backed your present Governor 
in doing, ask Mr, Edge. He can give you the most satisfactory inside 
information, 

"It may reveal nothing that is crooked. I am not intimating that; 
for that is neither here nor there; but he will be obliged to tell you that 
the organization was against the measure, and it is the same organiza- 
tion now as then. Moreover, the present candidate for Governor, with- 
out involving himself in any dispute of any kind, has been a member 
of the organization for the past three years, and longer, so he is not an 
outside party, he is an inside party in the organization. You will have 
to reckon the probabilities then. 

"There is another matter, a very practical matter that we ought to 
take into consideration. What has happened to all the attempts in the 
Assembly of New Jersey to pass a corrupt practices act? Every measure 
of that kind has been smothered or defeated. And why do corrupt 
practices prevail? Why are registration lists padded? Why is it im- 
possible to detect and expose the padding of lists? 

"Why? Because in every direction you turn for relief you find or- 
ganization men, not the RepubHcan party, resisting you; for I happen 
to know that there are hundreds, ay thousands, of thoughtful Re- 
publicans in this state who are just as anxious as any Democrat can 
possibly be to correct these very ugly things; but they find no means of 
correcting them; there are no instrumentaUties through which to do the 
things; nobody can be brought to act who is in authority. It is impossi- 
ble to discover why. 

"One does not Hke to intimate dishonorable reasons, but the fact is, as 
I have stated, that it is impossible to correct these things. That it is 
common rumor and beHef that they exist. Here is a pretty state of 
affairs; a self-governing people, indeed! A people of their own affairs, 
indeed ! If they have charge of their own affairs and want them changed, 
why don't they change them?" 

"Hear! Hear!" cried several voices in the vast assemblage. 

"We are going to change them," cried another, amid cheers. 

"The people of New Jersey, "continued Mr. Wilson, "are just 
awakening 'to the fact that they have been balked in this power 
of theirs, this self-government under which they live, that somehow it 
is tied up in the hands of somebody, and that they themselves 



io8 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

are outsiders in their own business house, where their own affairs are 
concerned. 

"Anybody who touches the use of the franchise in this country to de- 
bauch or to pervert it is a public enemy. If he calls himself a Republican 
he is hiding, like a coward, behind a handsome name. If he calls himself 
a Democrat, he is of the same cult and cut. The great curse of this 
country is the men in politics who, no matter by what name 
they are called, are in it for the sake of the game and for the sake of 
control. 

''Now I tell you, candidly, without making any charges of fraud, that 
this is a campaign to break up the RepubUcan machine, and I believe in 
my heart that the men who are going to assist with the greatest zest in 
this matter are Republicans themselves. 

"And let us see about the hopeful task of conducting good govern- 
ment, not by private management, but by public discussion. That is 
the program, public discussion. There is nothing in this world to which 
machine men are so averse as to public discussion. It gives the or- 
dinary politician a chill in the back because he doesn't know which side 
the chill will come from. 

"These gentlemen beUeve, if I am to credit them — and I do credit 
them — they believe the pubhc welfare of this country depends upon 
the management of the RepubHcan machine. They believe it is neces- 
sary to maintain an organization, which they have been kind enough to 
call a Board of Guardians. It is the State Republican Committee when 
concerned with legislation, and that, if you please, is under the control of 
this Board of Guardians. Nothing can be done at the Capitol in Tren- 
ton without the consent of our guardians. That puts us all in the cate- 
gory of being under age or else non compos mentis. We are either 
defective mentally or in our minority if we have to be taken care of by a 
Board of Guardians. I do not know of any court of competent juris- 
diction to appoint such guardians." 

The splendid speech was concluded with an impressive declaration 
that the independent spirit of America is returning to the hearts of the 
people. 

« 

"Everywhere that you turn you see that splendid thing that we call 
independence," said the speaker. "There never was in America before 
so numerous a detachable vote as there is at the present moment. There 
never was a time when the politicians, accustomed to regular sessions, 



FINDS TEXT IN MACHINE ITSELF 109 

were more hopelessly guessing than they are now. A free nation might 
almost be defined as a nation which keeps its professional politicians 
guessing. 

" Independence, as well as eternal vigilance, is the price of liberty. 
There is nothing higher in the world than independence. You know, 
ladies and gentlemen, what independence means. I can illustrate it in 
this way: One great church requires of its clergy that they should not 
marry, and I have sometimes thought that there was a very deep, 
spiritual justification of that requirement. When a man is married he 
has given hostage to all the self-interests that are in him. Many a 
man will dare to do right, to abide the consequences, if the consequences 
descend on himself, but if they involve the fortunes and the very 
bread of their wives and the children he loves, how often will he 
yield to what seems to be the stern necessity of giving away to 
temptation? 

"And then you reflect on all the threads and sensitive nerves that con- 
nect us, not only with our beloved families, but with our neighborhoods, 
with our towns and our cities, and forget how we tremble to break the 
tender film of these tender nerves, then you know the cost of indepen- 
dence, the cost of standing up ruthlessly and breaking anything rather 
than give up the independence of your spirit and your faith. And if 
that is the operation of your Government, if men will not do that, they 
cannot be free. 

"You remember that fine story taken out of the Middle Ages, when, 
to humble his subjects, David, their king, said to them, 'Fools, do you 
not know that I can have you condemned?' 'Yes,' they said, 'we know 
you can do it, and we know the result, that we can die hating you and 
cursing you.' And the monarch knew that he did not dare to put those 
men to death, because the terror was in his heart that if those men were 
put to death there would be sown the seeds of hatred and rebellion. He 
did not dare attempt violence upon the spirited and independent men. 
And so, if you are free people, you will remember that the price 
of liberty is independence. 

"I have preached you a sermon upon a great theme, but what theme 
could be greater than our own integrity, the integrity of our Govern- 
ment, the liberty of our lives, the satisfaction of having thoughts the 
integrity of which has not been violated? 

"Do you want pure and good government? You cannot have it in 
perfection under any circumstances. No man dares promise you more 
than so much as it is possible for brave men to do in a single generation, 



no A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

but you must make up your minds by which road and through which 
men you can accomplish the most in your own time." 

As the audience, which had sat silent, hanging intently and absorbed 
on the speaker's lofty sentiments and ennobling thoughts, caught the drift 
of his great mind it gave vent to its impulse in a mighty wave of ap- 
plause that made the pier tremble. 



XX 

WINNER IN REPUBLICAN OCEAN 

VASTLY GREATER CROWDS THAN TURNED OUT FOR LEWIS iPAY 
ENTHUSL^STIC HOMAGE 

Lakewood, N. J., Oct. 14 — After to-night Woodrow Wilson is not 
going to be surprised at anything more during the rest of his new kind of 
campaign. At two great meetings, one at Toms River, the county seat, 
and another later here, he was almost overwhelmed with tremendous and 
unexpected ovations from the people when, in his addresses, he con- 
tinued his plea for bringing about a new order of things in state govern- 
ment. 

The first surprise came at Toms River, where the crowd became so 
great that Mr. Wilson was forced to speak from the steps of the old 
courthouse, where only last week Vivian M. Lewis, the Repubhcan 
candidate, drew an audience that barely filled the courtroom. The 
day's program had been changed because the people here insisted upon 
hearing Mr. Wilson, so the Toms River meeting was fixed for 7.30 o'clock, 
and at that hour the courtroom was so full and so many more were on 
the outside unable to get in that I. W. Carmichael, the chairman, an- 
nounced that the candidate would speak outside, and the people turned 
out. 

There, overspreading the lawn and reaching out mto the middle of 
the street, the big crowd stood, intensely interested in the strong man 
who stood between two massive fluted columns, a very pillar of justice 
himself, with the lights at his back placing him in sharp silhouette, 
urging the people of America to return to the country the principles its 
founders laid down for it. After that meeting Mr. Wilson was whirled 
across the ten miles of good road to this handsome resort in the pines, 
where he found a great crowd eagerly awaiting his arrival in the Arcade 
Skating Rink, a massive hall. 

There were not less than 1200, fully 700 more than gathered to hear 
Mr. Lewis, and Assemblyman Joseph P. Tumulty, of Hudson County, 



112 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

was driving home some of the cold bare facts of the Republican legis- 
lative record when Mr. Wilson arrived. A tumult of applause, such as he 
has grown so accustomed to, greeted his appearance, and, although it 
was after 9 o'clock, the great audience, scores of whom were unable to 
find seats, stood throughout the meeting. 

And over all the day and the night there was a distinct and tangible 
atmosphere that fairly tingled with the notes of victory. It inspired 
Mr. Wilson, but in all his utterances he gave modest disclaimers to any 
distinction of his own in the great movement, ascribing it to the great 
independent movement in the country which has reached into New 
Jersey. 

A mile outside Cedar Run a punctured tire held up the Wilson car, 
and while Jack Kinsey, the chaufiFeur, and "Ed" Burrell, the jolly 
driver of the correspondents' car, adjusted a fresh tire, Mr. Wilson sat 
on the top rail of a fence and entertained the company happily with 
story and anecdote in merriest mood. 

Arriving at Toms River, the party was met by a local committee com- 
posed of former Prosecutor I. W. Carmichael, Martin Schwarz, C. B. 
Mathis, Dr. E. C. Disbrow and others, who awaited the party in the 
portico of the Riverside House, overlooking the river, and Mr. Wilson 
had an opportunity for a half-hour's rest before dinner, though scores 
pressed forward to see him, 

"The best way to put a baby to sleep," said Mr. Wilson, "is to repeat 
to it a line over and over again. The RepubKcan speeches of this cam- 
paign read like a lullaby, but we are grown up and they can't put us to 
sleep any more." 

The audience caught the idea readily and laughed and applauded. 
In both his speeches Mr. Wilson used as his central theme the awakened 
spirit of freedom which finally is to overthrow the domination of the 
special interests in New Jersey affairs, so that, sooner or later, the people 
will get what they want. 

"But," said he, impressively, "if you elect me and fail to elect a 
Democratic legislature, you will discover how great a mistake you have 
made, for without a legislature back of me I can only say what I might 
have done, and that would make it easy for me. But I don't want to 
be that kind of Governor. I want a legislature to aid me, so that we 
can get together to accomplish the things we are so eager to accomplish. 



WINNER IN REPUBLICAN OCEAN 113 

" I must admit that my wonder grows as I see the great audience that 
is gathered here to hear the simple words I have to say. Surely, some- 
thing is afoot in New Jersey. Everywhere I go are the same kind of au- 
diences, mixed of every element of the people of the neighborhood, 
drawn together, I am sure, by no idle curiosity to see the new candidate, 
but drawn together because of their interest in the questions which are 
stirring the state, and giving evidence by their numbers that those 
questions are stirring the state. 

"I have seen many sorts of audiences, I have in my time attended 
many political meetings, but I never have seen pohtical meetings such 
as I have seen in recent years. They have not seemed to be hke party 
gatherings at all, but it seems that we are met to discuss questions of the 
principles of our great Commonwealth, and how we should try to serve 
those interests best. 

"If we met as a party assembled we would have to indulge in the old 
kind of party argument and the old kind of party invectives, in which 
there never has been anything and never will be anything as long as the 
world stands. It is not parties, ladies and gentlemen, that go wrong; it 
is the leaders of parties that go wrong. 

"Think of what the parties consist; think of the great Republican 
and the great Democratic parties, almost evenly divided in voters of the 
United States, when a great Presidential election occurs, going each by 
the millions to the polls. Do you suppose there is anything radically 
wrong with the millions of men who go to the polls to vote on the one 
side or the other? If they are voting as I would judge in the wrong way, 
it is simply because they are misled by persons they are following. We 
talk about government by the people, and we heartily believe in govern- 
ment by the people, but as a fact judgment by the people consists in 
judging the men who lead them. 

"We must conduct our affairs, earn our living and support those de- 
pendent upon us. We cannot actually conduct the Government; we 
can only look on and judge those who are conducting it. And in cam- 
paigns, in pohtical campaigns, what we are met to do is to judge those 
who have conducted the Government, to see whether we are satisfied 
with them or whether we desire a change, and I am glad to say that I 
have not come to urge a change merely because the RepubHcan leaders 
have been unsatisfactory in what they have given you. It would be 
easy to show, I am sorry to say, that they have been unsatisfactory, but 
we cannot make a change simply because we are dissatisfied; we want to 
make a change because we wish to accompUsh something. 



114 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

'' I am not interested in negative reasons for a change; I am interested 
in positive reasons. There are a great many positive reasons why we 
should have a change, for there are a great many positive things that we 
desire to do, and for some reason we have been unable to get our leaders 
to do them. We have come upon a very different age from any that pre- 
ceded us. We have come upon an age when we do not do business in 
the way in which we used to do business. 

"There is a sense, ladies and gentlemen, in which in our day the in- 
dividual has been submerged. You do not feel it, perhaps, in this part 
of the state as much as it is felt in some other parts of the state, but in 
most parts of our great Commonwealth men work not for themselves, 
not as partners in the old way in which they used to work, but as em- 
ployes in a higher or lower grade of great corporations. There was a 
time when corporations played a very minor part in our business affairs, 
but now they play the chief part, and most men are the servants of 
corporations. 

"You know what happens when you are the servant of a corporation. 
You have in most instances no access to the men who are really determin- 
ing the poHcy of the corporation. If the corporation is doing the things 
that it ought not to do, you really have no voice in the matter and must 
obey the orders, and you have, with deep mortification, to cooperate 
in the doing of things that you know are against the pubhc interests, 
and at the same time you are submerged, your individuality is swallowed 
up in the individuahty and purpose of a great organization. 

"At the same time that you are subordinated to the organization some 
men are supreme in the organization, and, while it is true that the in- 
dividual plays a smaller part in our day than he ever played before, it is 
also true that he plays a larger part. Some individuals, very few individ- 
uals, play an extraordinary part in the control of the business operations 
of this country. If you build these corporations big enough, as they are 
being built, they will come into direct competition with Government 
itself, and presently we begin to suspect, and more than suspect, that 
they control the policy of the Government. 

"If they control the policy of the Government, how do they control 
it? They do not control it through you; they do not come upon public 
platforms and discuss with you the matters which they wish to have de- 
cided by legislation, or try to dissuade you from the measures of leg- 
islation that they are afraid will be adopted. They go to party man- 
agers. They go to party organizations and they make their arrange- 
ments with them. 



WINNER IN REPUBLICAN OCEAN 115 

"Now don't misunderstand me; I am not suggesting that these ar- 
rangements are against the public interests, and I am not suggesting 
either that they are always corrupt, for very often they are not. These 
distressing things that have been happening in neighboring states in 
regard to the actual corruption of members of the legislature by the 
corporations in order to induce them to pass certain legislation, or to 
refrain from passing certain other legislation, they are not the rule, they 
are the exception, and I thank God that it is so. 

"But the rule is that they convince party organizations that the public 
interests will not be served unless they, the corporations, are served. 
And, convincing those party organizations, there has come about in this 
country one of the most dangerous conditions that ever existed in alli- 
ance between parties and business. Parties have no right to ally with 
business; they have no right with any kind of business other than that 
kind of business that is not for the individual, but for the general welfare, 
for those things which must be done, whether particular branches of 
business suffer or not, in order that justice may be accompUshed and an 
even hand held in the administration of government." 

It was a busy and very pleasing day for Mr. Wilson, and one in which 
much of the aroused interest of the people was displayed. In all the 
points in Ocean and Atlantic counties which he touched he was given 
the greatest encouragement. Indeed, the information was general that 
a great overturning of the Republican vote is impending. Starting from 
Atlantic City at noon, after last night's tremendous demonstration, the 
run was made to Pleasantville, and, though nobody had information as 
to the time of the party's arrival, word went out that the candidate was 
coming and a crowd collected in front of Leech's store and cordially 
greeted the man who already is loved in all parts of the state. 

The crowd insisted upon hearing him, and, stepping upon the porch 
of the building and doffing his hat, Mr. Wilson said he had not expected 
to be called upon for any remarks. 

"Have you all understood the character of this campaign?" he said. 
"Don't you think the people are demanding a change in the State Gov- 
ernment? What kind of a man do you want? Do you want to be 
governed by a professional or an amateur? That is the way our Re- 
publican friends put it, and I accept it. And by 'professional' I mean 
the man who has not been serving the people, but has been bound by the 
ties of the political machine which dominates the affairs of this state. 



ii6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

That is the choice we have to make; that is the idea involved in this 
battle. We want to be governed by ourselves." 

Three good cheers were given, and the crowd pressed forward, several 
men declaring that, though they had voted the Republican ticket all 
their lives, they expected to vote for the Democratic candidate for 
Governor this year, and they knew of many more who would do likewise. 

In the glorious October sunshine the automobile ride over the fine 
stretches of hard road put Mr. Wilson in fine fettle, and he was alert, 
eager, and interested at every turn along the shore. Through Ocean- 
ville, Port Republic, New Gretna, and on to Tuckerton it was a fine 
drive of forty miles. The party was piloted by Clarence L. Cole and 
Mark A. Devine, of Atlantic City. 

At Tuckerton, where a stop was made for luncheon at the Carleton 
House, the party was joined by Thomas J. Scully, candidate for Congress ; 
George C. Low, of Toms River, candidate for Senator, and Harry New- 
man, of Lake wood, candidate for Assembly, who brought most encourag- 
ing reports of the outlook for Wilson's success. There, too, former Mayor 
Frank R. Austin, C. D. Kelly, a prominent oyster grower, and many 
others, all declared that, while the borough usually sends in a large 
RepubHcan majority, there is now every prospect that it will go for 
Wilson. One of the oldest residents of the town. Captain Job Anderson, 
shook the sturdy hand of Mr. Wilson and said: 

"I have just learned that I have been voting wrong. I never voted 
for a Democrat in my life, but this is the time I shall do it," and the old 
captain was not alone in his declaration. 

Kelly said he knew of scores of old-time Republicans who would do the 
same thing. Although the town, the centre of Ocean County's heavy 
oyster industry, was nearly deserted, most of its men being out at work 
on the bay, a goodly company gathered about the hotel porch to give Mr. 
Wilson cordial greeting and encouragement. 

A short stop was made at West Creek, another oyster village, where 
another group of Wilson converts was encountered. Isaac Shinn, an 
oysterman and fisherman, well known to scores of anglers from the 
cities, came up to the candidate, wrung his hand and said: "For the 
first time in my life I am going to vote for a Democrat, Mr. Wilson, 
because I believe we need a change, and a lot of men in our family are 
going to do the same." 

"That's good, that's fine," said the candidate, smihng. 



XXI 

EAGER FOR EVERY THOUGHT 

MONMOUTH COUNTIANS TURN OUT EN MASSE AT TWO GREAT 
MEETINGS 

Freehold, Oct. 15. — Into old Monmouth, so uncertain and coy in its 
political allegiances, now favoring one and again the other party, Wood- 
row Wilson carried his plea for virtue in government to-day, and to- 
night his third week of strenuous campaigning ended with another great 
triumph. As in Ocean County yesterday, there came from all points 
reports of his growing strength here, and the tremendous outpourings of 
the people were forceful and indisputable evidence of the great awaken- 
ing of New Jersey, 

Mr. Wilson's central thoughts were the corruption of the ballot by 
which the RepubHcan machine retains its grip, the alliance of the ma- 
chine with the great corporate interests to the serious detriment of the 
people's interests,and the misrepresentation by Senators Kean and Briggs 
of the people of the state. 

When Mr. Wilson started for the big Asbury Park meeting, which was 
regarded as most remarkable for that RepubUcan town, he passed under 
a large banner stretched across the intersection of Main Street and Mat- 
tison Avenue, which bore the inscription, " Woodrow Wilson, the Man of 
the Hour." That seems to be how the people of all the counties he so 
far has reached regard him. In this Httle town, the county seat, it 
seemed that every one of its 4000 population was determined to get 
close enough to Mr. Wilson, not only to hear the voice that is proclaiming 
the return of the Government to the people, but to feel the impulse for 
good that emanates from him and influences all with whom he comes in 
contact. 

The Opera House was packed almost as quickly as the doors were 
opened, for the people gathered early to gain seats, and hundreds were 
disappointed by having to remain out of doors. Piloted by Surrogate 
Crater, the candidate's party made the 18-mile run to the county seat 
in quick order and a crowd of farmers and town folk awaited in front of 

117 



ii8 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

the Monmouth House, the destination for dinner. Here the three 
candidates for Assembly, Elmer H. Geran, Leon R. Taylor, and James A. 
Hendrickson; Professor John Enright, county superintendent of schools 
and principal of the High School; A. C. Hartshorne, R. V. Lawrence, 
former Assemblyman Charles McDonald, Township Committee Chair- 
man C. B. Barkalow and other leading Democrats greeted him. 

The audience was ahve to the spirit of the occasion. The meeting was 
called to order by Professor Enright, whose appearance on the stage 
showed that he was not without popularity himself. He made a brief 
introductory address, declaring that the movement for good citizenship 
had been given a great impulse because it had a great man to lead it. 

"Now, my friends," said he, "the time has come, the hour is here and 
we have the man, and he is here, Woodrow Wilson." 

When the storm of applause had died away Mr. Wilson said he felt 
quite neighborly with the people of Freehold because he used to make 
frequent visits here as an undergraduate. The big gathering he re- 
garded as fresh evidence of the interest of the people in the great ques- 
tions of the day. 

"We are not jealous of great business," he said, "but we want to con- 
trol it. Why do you wish to control corporations? Because they are 
controlling you. Why do you wish to control poUtical machines? Be- 
cause you suspect they are managing you." 

It was another interesting and busy day for Mr. Wilson, and, while the 
tours were long and somewhat exacting, he enjoyed the evident interest 
manifested by the people on every hand. He left Lakewood at noon 
after making a run about the beautiful town with its array of costly 
hotels and cottages, and caught an outside view of Georgian Court, 
the magnificent estate of George J. Gould, as his car whirled past. It 
was a pleasant run of twenty miles to Asbury Park, passing through Bay 
Head, Point Pleasant, Sea Girt, Spring Lake, and Belmar, now showing 
few signs of life, but the whiff of sea air as the car bowled along the ocean 
boulevard was like tonic. 

The car pulled up at the Hotel Marlborough, one of Asbury Park's 
largest hostelries, where State Committeeman David S. Crater, County 
Chairman W. A. Beecroft, City Chairman R. S. Bennett, former Senator 
Henry S. Terhune, R. V. Lawrence, Secretary Devereux, of the State 
Committee, and others warmly welcomed the candidate. The meeting 
was fixed for 3 o'clock, in the Hippodrome, a theatre seating 800 persons, 



I 



HON. DAVID S. CRATER 



EAGER FOR EVERY THOUGHT 119 

but which was jammed to the doors long before Mr. Wilson arrived, so 
that hundreds of men were unable to get even a peep at the speakers. 

It was a repetition of all the other gatherings Mr. Wilson has ad- 
dressed and of the same political character, for it was declared that 
scores of men who have stood in Repubhcan lines in years past formed 
part of the large audience and demonstrated the utmost interest and 
enthusiasm in the candidate's lofty ideals. 

For the first time since the campaign started former Senator James 
Smith heard Mr. Wilson speak. He joined a party of friends who came 
up from Spring Lake land occupied one of the boxes with Col. George 
Harvey. On the stage was Thomas J. Scully , who is making big 
inroads upon Congressman B. F. Howell's preserves and is said to hold 
a fine chance of winning out, and other well-known Democrats of old 
Monmouth. 

The meeting was called to order by Samuel A. Patterson, who said it 
was an honor and privilege for the people of Asbury Park, irrespective 
of party ties, to have present the next Governor of New Jersey, against 
whom nothing had been urged except that he had an over-sufficiency of 
brains. A short speech was made by former Mayor Frank S. Katzen- 
bach, Jr., of Trenton, whose popularity in Asbury Park was attested by 
the cheers that greeted him. 

When Mr. Wilson stepped to the front of the platform the great au- 
dience arose and cheered long and loudly, and, as in all the meetings in 
which he has appeared, he was visibly moved by the earnest character 
of the lusty demonstrations. He had not expected to speak there, and 
when he learned that the people of Asbury Park just must hear him he 
decided to make a short address, and it proved to be one of the most 
forceful of the campaign, the central thought being the alHance between 
the Repubhcan machine and the great business combinations and 
special interests, under which system it was not possible for the Re- 
pubhcans to keep their pledges to the people. 

"If a party is fighting to keep its power it doesn't want any change," 
he said. "If I were making a machine I should want to know that the 
conditions were sure to continue so as not to interfere. I'm for putting 
the machine out of business and, parenthetically, I want to say that, if 
you find out I am or even was connected with any machine, I want you 
to vote against me. 

" I have read with a great deal of interest and with some sympathy the 
speeches which Mr. Lewis has been making about the Republican party. 



I20 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

I do not wonder that Mr. Lewis in his thoughts harks back to the great 
name of Lincoln, which stands at the beginning of the history of the Re- 
publican party, and yet how far back must he go to find typified in the 
leaders of the RepubUcan party that man of the people, that man who 
wished nothing so much as freedom, nothing so much as that individual 
man should have his shackles and trammels struck away from him, so 
that every man, every common man, should have his rights in America. 

"There has been a long process of building since then, in which these 
gentlemen have insensibly been led away from the ideals and standards 
of Lincoln. It would be a happy circumstance for America if we should 
go back to the leadership of men Hke that, to the leadership of men in 
whose heart no motives had found lodgement except the motives which 
they drew from sympathy with the great mass of men ; but we, alas, have 
been drawn away from these circumstances, partly by circumstances 
which we would not wish to reverse if we could reverse them. 

"The great circumstance of modern times is the particular form in 
which business has grown. It has grown, as Mr. Katzenbach so ad- 
mirably has pointed out to you, in these artificial forms which we sum 
up under the general name of corporation, combination, trust or what- 
ever word you choose to use in connection with the great organization 
of business which is now so characteristic of our times. And in that 
process of building nothing has been more instrumental (I make this by 
way of a concession, but I think it is a just concession) than the policy 
of Republican party. The Republican party, therefore, has come to be 
regarded, I mean the Republican party leaders, have come to be re- 
garded as the partners of big business. 

"Now there is no doubt that big business, business on the great scale, 
business on the corporate scale, organized, united business, has been at 
the bottom of the building up of the colossal wealth and material power 
of this country. In the process certain men have come to the top, men 
of genius, men who in other circumstances would have ruled, not merely 
great business combinations, but great states and great empires, men 
of the stuff that statesmen and kings are made of; but, alas, in some 
respects also Hke the great statesmen and kings whom other ages have 
known, who have centred their thoughts upon their own power and have 
come to beUeve that the exercise of that power was one and the same 
thing with the prosperity of the country. 

"Therefore, these kings and rulers have allied themselves with the 
leaders of the RepubHcan party, have poured money into their coffers, 
have stood by them at every critical turning point in their political his- 



WILLIAM K. DEVEREUX, SEC Y STATE COMMITTEE 



EAGER^FOR EVERY THOUGHT 121 

tory, until these gentlemen feel, and very naturally feel, an honorable 
alliance that cannot be broken between the corporate leaders of the 
country and the pohtical leaders of the country. 

" Put yourself in their places. Let yourself be engaged in great busi- 
ness, let yourself be as intimately concerned with big business as the 
two present Senators from New Jersey are both of them engaged, and ask 
yourself frankly what would your point of view be. Your point of view 
would be that anything done by the legislature or by Congress that dis- 
turbed the plan or impaired the prospect of these great bodies of busi- 
ness would be detrimental to the community as a whole. 

"These gentlemen, I have very Httle doubt, honestly think that the 
brains of the country are lodged where the money is used, that the dis- 
cussion of the country Hes where great business has to be overlooked, 
where the vision extends beyond the boundaries of the United States, to 
foreign markets, to great international transactions, as great as the 
transactions of ancient states when they dealt with one another, until 
these great masters of finance are entertained by foreign monarchs 
not as a condescension but as those who would acknowledge the great- 
ness of their equals — men who are presiding over the destinies of great 
nations. 

"I am not impeaching, therefore, the motives of these men; I am chal- 
lenging their thought. I do not believe that these men can do the think- 
ing for the country, and I do not beheve that they ought to be suffered 
to do the thinking for the country. The question you have to face in 
this campaign is: Who shall do your thinking and governing for you, 
men who think in the terms of special interests or men who have been 
engaged away from special interests and think in the terms of no special 
group of persons whatever? 

"I have nothing, not a syllable, to say against the character or the 
purpose of my opponent, the Republican candidate for the Governorship. 
I have only this to say as to his situation, that he has for a great many 
years been aUied with and connected with this group of men who have 
come to think that they must do the thinking of New Jersey for her, and 
that it is inconceivable to me that he should be able to detach himself 
from that connection and think independently and even antagonistically, 
as it is necessary he should think, to the things which they have intended 
and have been doing. 

"Mr. Katzenbach has recited for you some of the broken promises of 
the Republican party, I mean of the Republican party leaders, for that 
is what we mean in this discussion when we say the RepubUcan party — 



122 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

the Republican party leaders have done the misleading. Now, why have 
they misled you? Why have they made promises which they do not keep? 
Because after they had made them they found it would disturb business 
to keep them, and, therefore, they did not keep them. Their object was 
and jis to retain their leadership in order that existing conditions may 
not be disturbed. You will find great ramifications of these motives. 

" It would look as if all they have to do was to prevent legislation which 
would actually interfere with the business of corporations. I can under- 
stand, because it Hes on the surface, why they should not keep their 
promise about the Pubhc Utilities Commission, which should have rate- 
making powers. They did not regulate all public utilities, that is per- 
fectly plain, but why did not they pass a corrupt practices act? 

"Oh, gentlemen, don't you see that the power of a poUtical organiza- 
tion does not He actually in the person who determines its poUcy. A 
poHtical organization has branches in every community in the country. 
It is necessary that they should keep the offices in as many communities 
as possible in order to preserve the integrity of their own power un- 
broken. Moreover, it is necessary that they should create as many 
offices as possible and have as many salaries at their disposal as possible, 
and, in order that this community should not be able to break this grip 
upon them, it was necessary that the election should not be too clearly 
scrutinized by the voters because the spirit of insurgency, the spirit of 
independence, is alive, and even when it seems most to slumber." 



XXII 
REFUTES A FALSEHOOD 

DENIES HE IS A FOE TO LABOR AND PROCLAIMS FRIENDSHIP FOR 
ORGANIZED WORKINGMEN 

Trenton, Oct. i8. — Woodrow Wilson encountered to-night in his 
home county another of those wholly unlocked for marks of popular 
approval which have become so frequent in his new kind of campaign, 
and in this unexpected situation he made a ten-minute address full of 
significance and which brought for him one of those storm waves of ap- 
preciation which so astonished him at first, but to which he gradually is 
adjusting his nervous system. 

He flung down the gauntlet to those who have been endeavoring to 
paint him as a foe to organized labor and, in terms somewhat stronger 
and more pointed than has been his wont, he proclaimed his friendship 
for workingmen organized. It was this strong declaration in favor of 
labor that evoked the greatest and most lasting mark of approval, but 
the whole little speech aroused great enthusiasm. 

" I am very glad to feel that this is an evening when I am with you per- 
sonally and can shake hands with you," said Mr. Wilson. "To tell you 
the truth, I am tired of making speeches; not that I am tired of the oc- 
casions which call them forth, for nothing has interested me more as I 
have gone throughout the various parts of the state than the eagerness 
with which men have gathered to hear the great questions discussed, 
which it is our duty to discuss. 

"Because a very interesting thing has happened, gentlemen, we talk 
a great deal about the machine of this party and that party, and we 
seem to be very much afraid of the machine government, but machine 
government exists partly because we don't take the government into our 
own hands, and in blaming the machines we must remember that we 
have allowed them to do business. Now I understand from this cam- 
paign, gentlemen, that the people are resuming control of their affairs, 
and what gratifies me more than anything else in going about the state 

123 



124 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

is that, if I should be chosen Governor, I will be chosen something more 
than Governor. 

"I will be chosen the spokesman of my fellow-citizens in the way in 
which our Government ought to be conducted. That is what I want to 
be, gentlemen. I want to be your spokesman. I want, if I may have 
the privilege, to interpret your interests in respect to legislation and other 
questions in the state. I want to have the privilege of picking out for 
you the best ofl5ceholders that can be found in the state. 

"I speak of myself on this occasion because this is not a speechmaking 
time, but a time when I want you to understand me as a person. I tell 
you frankly I am not ambitious of political office. Political office of 
itself has no attractions for me whatever. But when I think that I may 
be given an opportunity to do things not easy to do, on the contrary, 
diflficult to do, which I will be called upon to do by a large body of my 
fellow-citizens, I feel that, whether I want oflSce or not, that will be one 
of the most distinguished privileges that has ever been accorded an in- 
dividual. Therefore, I want you to regard me as a person who desires 
to put himself at your service and in no other light whatever. 

"Inasmuch as I am speaking of personal matters, I want to speak of 
something that has, I will permit myself to say, caused me a good deal of 
distress. Ordinarily I do not think that misrepresentation makes any 
difference. Ordinarily I think Hes take care of themselves. But it has 
distressed me, I will admit, that I should have been so consistently and 
persistently and, I will take the liberty to say, malignantly, misrepre- 
sented in respect to my attitude toward labor. 

"I am not at all afraid that the laboring men of this state will depart 
from their usual practice and not judge of this matter for themselves, 
and I am not afraid that they will oppose me, but I think that, at a 
reception like this, I should tell you how false the whole thing was. Be- 
cause, to be represented in the light in which I have been represented, 
when I have been always a consistent friend of the laboring man, has 
distressed me. 

"I want to say this to the laboring men. I claim to be a good friend 
of the laboring men because I am not afraid to criticise things that they 
do when I think they are doing things they ought not to do. I could be 
what a great many other men have been, a cowardly friend who was 
afraid to say what they thought. But if I were that sort of person I 
would kick myself around the block. 

"I have, as you know, criticised some of the unions for doing some 
things in regard to the regulation of labor which I thought were inimical 



REFUTES A FALSEHOOD 125 

to their interests and to the interests of the country, but I take the pains 
to say that they did not represent the mass of the workingmen, and I 
said the things I have said as a friend desirous of promoting their best 
interests. And I believe in my heart that that is the kind of friend the 
workingmen want. 

" If you want the other kind of friend represented in the headquarters 
across the street, so far as I am concerned you are perfectly welcome. 
You have only to examine their lack of consistency in dealing with other 
questions and other interests of the people. For their works are written 
on the pages of the state's history. If you think that these gentlemen 
have always acted in your interests, I beg that you will support them, 
for I have no jealous feeUng in regard to this matter. Only I want to 
give myself the pleasure of telling you how I really feel." 

In referring to the headquarters across the street, Mr. Wilson meant 
the branch quarters of the Republican State Committee, just opposite 
the Temple. 

There had been no intention on the part of the Democratic League 
to hold a campaign meeting. It was planned to get Mr. Wilson to the 
Capitol merely for a reception, at which the voters could be given an 
opportunity to meet him and shake his hand. The press became so 
great, however, that it was decided to rent the big auditorium of Masonic 
Temple, so that all who desired might come, and all who desired proved 
to be some 1200 or more, and many of them were compelled to stand. 
The hall was beautifully decorated with flags, bunting and plants, while 
a large orchestra let loose patriotic airs. 

Mr. Wilson was brought over from Princeton in an automobile by 
County Chairman Hoff and E. F. Hooper, and was met at the hall by 
State Committeeman Charles H. Gallagher, who has been with him on 
much of his state tour; Mayor Walter Madden, City Assessor John P. 
Dullard, former Senator Jonathan Blackwell and other prominent men 
of the party. 

His appearance in the hall let loose one of those torrents of emotion 
with which he has become so familar in the past few weeks and which 
apparently have inspired in him the feelings to which he has given such 
eloquent expression that the people at last are aroused to the questions 
of the hour for their own better welfare. 

It had been planned merely to have the candidate stand up at the end 
of the hall, back of an enclosure, and receive the people, but the crowd 
was so large, early in the evening, that the managers found it necessary 



126 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

to hustle for chairs, and in a few minutes 700 eager people were seated, 
while along the aisles and back of the rows of chairs stood fully 500 others, 
all deeply interested in the proceedings. It then was found necessary 
to break away from the program of informality and permit Mr. Wilson 
to make a ten-minute address, because the Mercer County voters had 
urged that he make here some explicit statement on the labor question. 



XXIII 
VOTERS' SHARE IS THEME 

CANNOT SERVE THEM, DECLARES THE CANDIDATE, UNLESS THEY 
DO THEIR PART 

Somerville, Oct. 19. — "I believe in my heart that the Democratic 
party is offering to save you, and it is bidding me to put myself at your 
service; but I cannot put myself at your service unless you do your part." 

That was the crux of the argument made to-night by Woodrow Wilson, 
the central figure of the awakened populace of New Jersey in another 
triumphal demonstration of his towering strength. He had come into 
beautiful and prosperous Somerset County, the home of many well-to- 
do commuters and farmers, the home of President of the Senate 
FreHnghuysen, which gave Governor Fort but 186 majority three years 
ago. He found conditions ripe for revolt, the people thoroughly aroused 
and ready to follow a great leader to good government. 

He eloquently and forcibly pictured to the vast audience in the 
National Guard armory the conditions due to the partnersliip between 
poUtics and the special interests, under which the government of the 
state is run, and pointed the way to the removal of those conditions; and 
the 1000 or more who heard him gave emphatic endorsement to his sturdy 
sentiment. | It was another of those great meetings which Mr. Wilson 
has been gathering in all parts of the state, and it was another of those 
remarkable demonstrations of approval of the broad, patriotic senti- 
ments to which he is giving utterance at all the meetings he so forcibly 
and ably addresses. 

Mr. Wilson had arrived in town early. He had been whirled across 
country to Bound Brook for one of those spontaneous and uncharted 
marks of popular esteem which stand out so clearly in the campaign; he 
had met many awakened Democrats, all hopeful and filled wth a new 
energy, and his pulse quickened when he heard the expressions of good 
will, admiration and confidence which came to him so quickly. 

The largest hall in the city of 6000 population is the handsome new 
armory of Company M, Second Regiment, which had been tastefully 

127 



128 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

decorated and arranged with chairs to seat looo persons,the gallery being 
reserved for the ladies. The crowd began to gather at 7 o'clock, though 
the meeting was set for 8, and long before the candidate arrived not an 
inch of space remained for another listener. And the big audience was 
bubbling over with enthusiasm, ready to burst forth at the sUghtest 
provocation, and there was plenty of provocation in the stirring speech 
of this leader of men. ■• 

Richard V. Lindabury, the eminent North Jersey lawyer, whose home 
is near here, was chairman of the meeting, and in his opening remarks he 
declared that he had been one of the Democrats of New Jersey who, 
reaUzing that the Government of New Jersey had fallen upon evil times, 
taking counsel together, had cast about for a man who could lead the 
way to better things, a strong man to lift the affairs of the state from their 
low level. They had found the man, and he was under no promise or 
obligation to any boss or special interest, but was free to serve the people 
of the whole state. 

"He is untrammelled, free and independent, and will lift the affairs of 
our State Government above the standard of that Board of Guardians. 
He is Woodrow Wilson," concluded Mr. Lindabury. 

Mr. Wilson was unable to proceed for a full minute, so full and hearty 
was the applause that greeted him, and that he was deeply moved by the 
mark of approbation was visible to all beholders. 

"The chairman has said that you are about to engage in one of the 
most important elections that this state has known. He said, I venture to 
say, that when you come in future years to look back upon this election, 
you will realize that it afforded you an occasion to take part with the rest 
of the country in what is Httle short of a revolution in American politics. 
Do you reahze what is happening in New Jersey and outside of it? Do 
you reahze that both parties are almost of necessity breaking away from 
the past? Do you realize that our hfe has broken away from the past? 
The Hfe in America is not the Hfe that it was twenty years ago. It is 
not the Hfe that it was ten years ago. 

"We have changed our economic conditions absolutely from top to 
bottom and with our economic society, the organization of our Hfe, the 
old party formulas do not appear in the present problem, the older crises 
sound as if they belonged to a past age, which men must have almost 
forgotten. Elderly men here will not need to be told that things which 
used to be put in the party platform of ten years ago would sound anti- 
quated if put in the platform now, and therefore there is a signally vital 



VOTERS' SHARE IS THEME 129 

moment in the audiences which collect in the present, in that they collect 
irrespective of party, for they reahze that they have not come to discuss 
party questions, that they are not come to hear parties denounced or to 
hear parties praised, but they have come to hear the interests of the 
Commonwealth discussed in terms of the present moment. 

"It is in vain that either party turns to its past record, either for 
vindication or for excuse. Its past record is not pertinent to the matters 
now in hand. Is it not a fact that we stand in the presence of a new age 
to which we must give the attention of men who know that there is no 
guidance to be afforded them except their own intelligence and their own 
conscience, because what makes every man stand erect and feel his man- 
hood is the feeUng that he is determining pubhc questions for himself at 
no man's bidding, not as the slave of a party, not as the mere follower of 
party leaders, but as an American citizen who has the right to determine 
these things for himself? 

"I cannot imagine a man so deaf to all the voices that are now in the 
air as not to know that a time of critical choice has come and that, if 
there is any man's heart under his jacket, it will be true to the interests 
of his commonwealth and his country. If this were not such a cam- 
paign, I, for one, would not be upon the platform. If it were my func- 
tion to excuse a party, if it were my task to seek an office for the sake of 
getting an office for a party, I would have nothing to do with the cam- 
paign. Those things do not interest me. 

"I beheve in my heart that the Democratic party is now offering to 
serve you and that it is bidding me put myself at your service. That is 
what I am doing. That is what it is my heart's desire and ambition to 
do. But I cannot put myself at your service, gentlemen, unless you 
know what there is to do, unless you know what the situation is and what 
it is that we seek to cure. We do seek to cure certain fundamental 
evils in our pohtics, evils which have crept upon us unawares in some 
degree, but, nevertheless, they have come upon us until they have the 
grip of a giant in maintaining control of the Government of this country 
and of its poHcy. 

"Now, what is the situation? The Democratic party has almost 
everywhere in this country broken its connections with its past and is 
putting up new men. What is the consequence? That men who have 
long been out of the Democratic ranks are coming back to them, and that 
men who have never been in the Democratic ranks are listening atten- 
tively to see what new things it is that this party purposes. Look at the 
RepubHcan party. In many parts of the Union the Republican party 



I30 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

has broken with its past, has seen that the policies which it has been pur- 
suing are not suitable to the day in which we live. Many of the most 
intelligent readers, young and old, have arisen to protest against policies 
and purposes that have prevailed in that party. 

"Particularly in New Jersey has the Democratic party taken a new 
course, and, unprecedented in its history, it has called from outside party 
organization altogether not one man, but several who are to be brought 
in to speak the views of the new age without respect to any machine 
connection, without respect to any pledges of any kind, as men who seek 
to voice the general citizenship in this country. 

''The Republican party has broken with its past almost everywhere 
except in New Jersey. The moral of the recent nominating convention 
of the Republican party is that certain men, not\vithstanding the present 
undoubted desires of the Republican party, have managed to keep 
the old connections and the old control and to maintain the supremacy of 
an organization already discredited in its own party. One of the most 
distinguished representatives of the Republican organization, I mean 
former Governor Griggs, has said that he objects to the term reform 
as appKed to the Republican organization. He says the implication of 
that word is that something has been wrong with the Republican party. 
He says that the only word he will accept was the word 'improvement' 
and he graciously conceded that there was some room for improvement. 

"I know some of these gentlemen, and my only objection to them is 
that they cannot get a new idea into their heads — it would take a surgi- 
cal operation — they are living on convictions of twenty years ago, they 
regard it a necessity, they are maintaining a poUcy which will maintain 
in the slang of the day 'a big business with two big B's,' and their 
theory of government and prosperity is 'keep big business going, and 
big business will take care of the country.' 

"The idea that cannot be got into their heads is that if they take care 
of the country there will be something in the line of big business to take 
care of. They build from the top down, not knowing that every secure 
building is built from the bottom up and that every citizen who will take 
average interest, the great lever of every man's business, as his standard 
of action, is sure to be certain of big business as well as a good and faith- 
ful servant of the coimtry." 

Continuing, Mr. Wilson succinctly outlined what he regarded as the 
necessary steps for divorcing the special interests from control of the 
Government, citing a utilities commission with power to make and reg- 



VOTERS' SHARE IS THEME 131 

ulate rates, a corrupt practices act that will prevent big corporations and 
business concerns from making campaign contributions, and a direct 
primary law that will give the people power to select their officers. Con- 
cluding, he said: 

"And I know from personal acquaintance \\ith scores of members of 
the legislature that there is nothing they would welcome so much as the 
liberty of representing their constituents and not representing a poUtical 
organization. I am not proposing something to you which is to indict 
the honesty or the right purpose of the members of the legislature of our 
sovereign state. I am proposing something to you that is not new; 
that for a long-Hved period of years we have forgotten. 

"I am proposing to you the government by the people of their own 
affairs through persons of their own choice, who are under obligations 
of the most solemn kind to tell them the truth, and to try to tell them 
the way. 

"I say, gentlemen, that what we are after in this campaign is this, 
we are for the purification, we are for the ratification of our pohcies in 
those respects where they have become obscure. I do not doubt the 
result. I know the spirit of the American people. I am not one of ^ 
those who believe that you haA^ to appeal to party spirit in order to get -'" 
an election in this country ,,^^am one of those who beheve that you only 
have to point out to the people of the United States the moral issues that 
lie at the basis of all other ages, and that when you have so pointed them 
out every pulse in their manhood will beat quick, in that they will rise 
in appeal, in that old spirit, which will make possible a new declaration y 
of independence, a new revolution, the creation of a new nation. / 

"Americans are asleep, or, I would more properly say, they have been 
asleep, but, thank God, that time is past and they will awake, and the 
resolutions of the year 19 10 are resolutions which show to America and 
to the world the making of a political awakening." 

Following Mr. Wilson addresses full of fire and earnestness were made 
by former Mayor Frank S. Katzenbach, of Trenton; Colonel Wilham 
Libbey, candidate for Congress, and Senator George S. Silzer, of Middle- 
sex County. Mr. Wilson was driven back to Princeton immediately 
after the meeting. 

Mr. Wilson's day produced another of those wholly unlooked-for and 
unarranged evidences of popular feehng. He had been brought to 
pretty Somerville in the automobile that has carried him without mishap 



132 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

over so many miles of New Jersey, with "Jack" Kinsey at the wheel, 
arriving about 3 o'clock, and meeting State Chairman Nugent and M. W. 
Scully, chairman of the Somerset County Committee. There was time 
to spare and, after short consultation, it was decided to run over to 
Bound Brook, four miles on a straight road, where it was reported lots 
of people were anxious to see the candidate. 

In a few minutes the car stopped at the handsome home of George M. 
La Monte, Democratic candidate for Assembly, who is said to stand an 
excellent chance of election despite the fact that Somerset is usually 
"safe" for a Republican majority. Mr. La Monte cordially greeted the 
candidate, and a committee of ladies was spontaneously formed with Mrs. 
La Monte at their head. Mr. Wilson began shaking the hands of those 
who crowded about him on the leaf-strewn lawn with the glorious 
October sunshine streaming through the trees. Perhaps 300 persons, 
of whom there were some 100 well-dressed women, had shaken Mr. 
Wilson's hand and given him a word of happy good-will when Mrs. S. R. 
Kelso stepped up to Chairman Nugent and said: "We so much want to 
hear Mr. Wilson speak. Will you not ask him." 

" It was not intended to have Mr. Wilson speak this afternoon," replied 
the big chairman, "but that is a matter for him to settle. You may 
suggest it to him." 

Mr. La Monte presented him to the impromptu audience of perhaps 
300 persons gathered in a semi-circle on the wide lawn and he said: 

"I did not expect such an event as this, much less to speak. I am 
having the most delightful experience of my life, meeting earnest people 
bent upon the consideration of the most vital questions in men's lives. 
Most pohtical meetings partake of the hilarious character consisting of 
cheering the candidate, booming his cause and knocking the other fellow, 
but in the present campaign men are showing intense interest in the 
things of vital importance to the welfare of the Commonwealth. 

"I am not seeking office for myself, but offering myself to my fellow- 
citizens to undertake to do my best for whatever service I am able to 
render. I have for years studied the political situation from the out- 
side, but, having been brought into intimate contact with the political 
leaders during the campaign, I have only to say that if all are of the kind 
I have met they are men who mean to work for the welfare of New 
Jersey." 

A round of cordial applause greeted the little speech, and Mr. Wilson 



VOTERS' SHARE IS THEME 133 

shook warm hands. Then he was driven down to the Hotel Berkeley, 
where nearly 100 workingmen pressed forward to greet him, wishing him 
success. The party then returned to the Hotel Somerset here, where 
Colonel Nelson Y. Dungan, of the Second Regiment, National Guard, 
and Democratic State Committeeman for Somerset, presented a score 
or more of prominent residents, who dined with the candidate. Among 
them were James L. Griggs and Mayor C. H. Kenyon, Republicans, 
who openly declare that they intend to vote for Mr. Wilson. There 
also were present former Congressman Alvah A. Clark, L. M. Codding- 
ton, former Senator W. J. Keyes, C. A. Speer, P. W. Tunnison, D. H. 
Beekman, Thomas E. Gibson, State Prison Inspector Jacob Shurtz, 
and others. 



XXIV 
HUNTERDON BREAKS LOOSE 

REGARDS HIM AS MAN POWERFUL ENOUGH TO FREE STATE FROM 
RULE OF THE BOSSES 

Flemington, Oct. 20. — Woodrow Wilson stood forth more clearly 
and distinctly as the rock of the people's hopes in this wide field of a 
fearless Democracy to-night. He had come from Princeton, where his 
resignation of the presidency of the great university had been accepted, 
and it did seem that he breathed a freer air, as though heavy cares had 
been lifted from his mind. His spirit was dominant, vigorous, and 
contagious. 

He had anticipated, of course, that in Hunterdon County, which un- 
failingly gives its support to Democratic candidates, he might be warmly 
welcomed, but he was in no wise prepared for the mighty demonstration 
with which he was received. So great was the multitude in and about 
the Opera House w^hen the hour for the meeting arrived that the local 
managers found it necessary to hastily open the old courthouse to let 
in the overflow crowd, and that, too, was jammed. 

As soon as he had concluded one speech Mr. Wilson was hurried around 
to the other meeting for a brief address. In both the big meetings the 
enthusiasm knew no bounds and old-time campaigners declare they never 
beheld the parallel of this night in old Hunterdon. Mayor Hulsizer, 
in opening the Opera House meeting, said he had been interested actively 
in political affairs for thirty years and never had he seen anything 
Hke it. 

"At Princeton to-day," he said, "the trustees of the university ac- 
cepted the resignation of one of the best presidents that university ever 
had, and I will present you to the best candidate for Governor New 
Jersey ever had." That neat little turn caught the big crowd and it 
voiced its approval in a great shout. The candidate was in the full 
vigor of his great intellect when he faced the attentive audience, which, 
at many points in his address, paid him the tribute of a tense and al- 
most breathless silence as he vigorously lashed machine politics, the 

134 



HUNTERDON BREAKS LOOSE 135 

coalition of the corporation special interests and the rule of the political 
boss, and called the people to march under the banners of right. 

Speaking with marked feeling of the severance of his ties with Prince- 
ton, Mr. Wilson said? 

"I think I owe it to the people whose franchise I am asking to disen- 
gage myself from other occupations and to devote myself to the serious 
purposes of this campaign. And yet I sometimes wonder, when I face 
an audience Hke this, what it is that we are discussing. You know some 
very singular things have happened in this campaign. 

"We started out with marked differences between the programs of the 
two parties. The Democratic platform has a great many items in it, 
all of which are explicitly expressed; the Republican platform has 
fewer items in it, most of them not specifically expressed. But the Re- 
publican candidate has added to the principles of his party platform 
practically everything in the Democratic platform and, therefore, it is 
obvious that what we have come together to discuss is not so much the 
differences between the professions of the two parties, as interpreted by 
the spokesmen, but the difference between persons — the differences 
as between what is to be expected of the one candidate and what is to 
be expected of the other. 

"The Republican candidate has for a long time been part of an active 
party organization; the Democratic candidate has never been part of a 
party organization. The Republican candidate has, in more than one 
speech, given a sufficiently clear indication of how he expected to act. 
You will remember that, when he accepted the nomination, he said that 
he expected to be a constitutional Governor, by which he meant that 
he would punctiUously confine himself to those things that were intimated 
as his privileges and duties by the Constitution of the state; that is to 
say, he would send messages to the legislature, make strong recom- 
mendations to them, but that if they did not accept his recommendations 
he would have nothing more to say about it. 

"I, following about a week afterward, said that if that was the stand- 
ard I was going to be an unconstitutional Governor, because, if it was 
unconstitutional to urge upon the citizens of the state, in order that 
opinion might guide the legislature, the things that it seemed absolutely 
necessary the legislature should enact, then I was going to take the 
liberty, the utmost liberty of speech that belonged to me, not merely 
as Governor, but as an American citizen, to urge upon the people of the 
state the necessary reforms in legislation and administration. 



136 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"Then Mr. Lewis followed suit and said that he also would do that. 
But Mr. Lewis, as I pointed out to you, is an intimate part of an or- 
ganization, and I am not part of any organization at all. The contrast 
in the program, therefore, is this: Will you have the things that you 
want attempted and carried out by the organization methods, or will 
you have them carried out by the other method which I have suggested 
to several audiences in this state, by the method of public discussion 
and personal responsibility? That is what I propose to you as a serious 
question, gentlemen. Are you or are you not tired of the organization 
process, are you or are you not disappointed with what you have got from 
party organization, from party machines?" 

Continuing, Mr. Wilson said there is but one way to settle the problems 
which the people of New Jersey want settled and that is through public 
opinion and that public opinion is not a matter of reading newspapers, 
nor is it made overnight. He said it was in the gathering together of 
the people in little groups to discuss their affairs and the problems of 
government. 

Further along he said: "What are the objects you are to demand of 
all of your candidates? Are you after promoting the interests you be- 
long to or are you after settling public questions? The man who is not 
after settling pubHc questions is not worth listening to, and a man who 
is genuinely desirous of coming at a just settlement of such questions 
is worth listening to whether he is right or wrong, because all force 
comes from the moral vigor that is in the man. All dignity, all 
self-respect comes from his honesty, his real desire to see the truth, 
and a man who has that desire and is wrong can be convinced and set 
right. 

"So I say to you, you must demand of your candidates that they 
specify that the object is to settle public questions in the way that will 
be just and right and bring about justice in the relation of men to each 
other in the settlement of their affairs." 

Reaching the underlying thought of his address, Mr. Wilson said one 
of the great matters to be settled was the question of the corporations. 
"I have heard a great deal of cheap and easy denunciation of corpora- 
tions," he said. "It is perfectly easy to grow eloquent in denunciation 
of these great business orgnizations which we call by that name. And 
it is perfectly easy, by the same token, to be absolutely unjust. What 
we are jealous of is not legitimate business, not the right use of the 
power of the corporations, because they are a great convenience in the 



HUNTERDON BREAKS LOOSE 137 

conduct of our complicated modern business; but what we are jealous of 
is the wrong, the criminal, the unjust use of the corporation. 

"And so all we ask in seeking to regulate corporations, public-serving 
corporations, for example, and other corporations, is not to break them 
up, but to adjust them to our interests, and we cannot adjust anything 
to our interests unless we study the character of the thing itself and the 
character of our interests as related to that thing. And every step of 
public policy depends upon inquiry, depends upon understanding, de- 
pends upon the comprehension. 

"Novv- there are two things we want adjusted in respect of our cor- 
porations: In the first place, we want to make them act in a way that 
is f-air to us, and, in the second place, we want to make them right in the 
way of taxation. You have heard a great deal, a great deal that is 
true, about inequalities of taxation in this state, and in the country, too, 
for that matter; and it has been said, and sometimes justly said, that the 
corporations which enjoy enormous legal advantages do not pay enough 
for those advantages, and that the taxes that are levied on their 
property are not levied in a way that shows equality between the 
taxes that are levied on their property and the taxes that are levied 
on the property of private individuals. Now, all of that must be 
adjusted in a spirit of fairness, not in order to do the corporations an 
injustice, but in a way to see that everybody gets his rights in a matter 
of that kind." 

Amid loud and prolonged applause Mr. Wilson was guided out the 
rear entrance of the house and to the courthouse, where other speakers 
had been discussing issues of the campaign and where the crowd, which 
chokingly jammed the room, sat patiently waiting. His appearance 
was the signal for another great ovation, and that he was moved as he 
has been moved before in this campaign was plain to all beholders. His 
second address was short but pointed, and the enthusiasm of his hearers 
was unbounded. 

Others who made stirring addresses at the two big meetings were 
Colonel William Libbey, candidate for Congress; Assemblyman Mat- 
thews, Assemblyman Joseph P. Tumulty, Senator WiUiam C. Gebhardt, 
who had such an unprecedented majority for reelection last year; Cap- 
tain Perry, of Atlantic City, and others. Mr. Wilson was fairly be- 
sieged at his hotel after the great double demonstration and did not seem 
to weary in the least. He reached 1 . :; exactly on schedule time, six 
o'clock, as he always does, having i.iotored up from Princeton. He 



138 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

seemed greatly relieved by the action of the trustees of the university in 
accepting his resignation. 

Mr. Wilson was greeted by William D. Bloom, State Committeeman 
from Hunt-erdon; Mayor and County Chairman A. C. Hulsizer, former 
Senator R. S. Kuhl, Senator William C. Gebhardt, Attorney Harry L. 
Stout, Paul A. Queen, J. N. Pidcock, Jr., Assemblyman John J. Mat- 
thews, ;who has no RepubHcan opponent for reelection for a fourth term ; 
William E. Trewin, Ohver Kugler, John W. Sharp, Morris L. Eick, A. W. 
Muirhead, and others of the leading Democrats of this strong old Demo- 
cratic county, and former Prosecutor Samuel E. Perry, of Atlantic, a 
native of this town. All were delighted to grip the candidate's hand 
and glad to feel the warm blood that flows in his veins. 

After supper at the Union Hotel, where the proprietor, former As- 
semblyman Joseph Chamberlin, was host, Mr. Wilson held an informal 
reception in the parlors, and scores of active men, Republicans as well 
as Democrats, came to greet him. To-morrow morning he will go by 
automobile through another strong Democratic county, Warren, and 
will speak in Phillipsburg to-morrow night. 



XXV 

READS A NEW LESSON 

SAYS NEW jersey's POLITICAL BOSSES HAVE REGARDED OFFICES 
AS PRIVATE PROPERTY 

PMllipsburg, Oct. 21. — Woodrow Wilson is a weary but a happy man 
to-night. Nothing quite so heartening to him has happened in his new 
kind of campaign as his great reception in Warren County, one of the 
four of the state that has a fixed habit of presenting majorities to Demo- 
cratic candidates. A tremendous meeting in Ortygian Hall to-night 
wound up for him the hardest day of his great battle. 

He had made one of those old-fashioned "whirls" by automobile, cov- 
ering nearly ninety miles of New Jersey's most beautiful country, 
stopping at eight towns and making seven speeches, sLx in response to in- 
sistent demands, and he was mighty weary when he reached this city to- 
night. And yet such was the tonic effect upon him of the gathering 
that he was at his best, bright, earnest, and filled with the spirit of his 
broad patriotism that is carrying him straight to the hearts of the 
people. 

Old campaigners in Warren, such as Senator Cornish and former 
Judge Morrow, declare that nothing paralleling the Wilson visit ever 
has been seen here, and that, instead of the 1000 or 1500 the county 
usually gives, they fully expect it to give 2500 to 3000 for Wilson, whom 
they regard as the type of man for whom the people of New Jersey have 
been looking. They say that hundreds of Republicans have declared 
their intention of voting for Wilson, and they confidently look for a 
great landslide. 

As in all the other meetings which Mr. Wilson has addressed, the crowd, 
the enthusiasm and interest were at the top notch. The hall will ac- 
commodate about 1000, but nearer 1500 pressed in and left many dis- 
appointed ones without. It seemed that half the audience stood 
through the delivery of the address, which occupied fully fifty minutes, 
with never a waver in the interest. 

Mr. Wilson continued to arraign machine politics and the alliance 

139 



I40 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

of the special interests with the political organization for corrupt pur- 
poses. He cited the exposures of the insurance companies not so long 
ago as illustrating the point he desired to make that the special interests 
have been allied with the political organizations or machines. 

"These men," he said, speaking of the officers of the companies con- 
tributing to party coffers, "were treating these funds exactly as if they 
were their own and were making a private and illegitimate profit out of 
them. What I want to call your attention to is that many of these men 
who were doing these things were not dishonorable men ; they were men 
who had got into the slow drift of the system which they had not suf- 
ficiently examined and which their consciences had not kept tally of, 
and by one slow stage after another had been led to a point of view 
where they had forgotten the original fundamental intentions of the 
business in which they were engaged. 

"Something very similar has happened in the field of politics, not in 
New Jersey merely, but throughout the United States. What has 
happened is that certain men connected with great political organiza- 
tions have, by slow and insidious stages, found themselves treating 
poHtical questions as if they were private questions and political offices 
as if they were for private benefit. They have lost the point of view of 
the business they were engaged in, exactly as the insurance men lost the 
point of view of the business they were engaged in. Many of these men 
are without intention of doing dishonorable things; many of them are 
without conscience of doing illegitimate things. 

"They have by stages of poHtics, which can be traced just like the 
growth of a tree, been drawn into things which have withdrawn them 
from their consciousness of being public servants. They have forgotten 
what a great statesman once thrilled us by saying, that pubHc office is a 
pubHc trust. And, therefore, we say — and may with a great deal of 
heat — that we have got tired of the domination of the political 
machine. 

"But did you ever stop to ask yourselves what you mean by the 
political machine? Do you really mean party machinery? There 
must be party machinery. MiUions of men cannot cooperate upon a 
common principle without some organization to guide them and hold 
them together. It is not a mere question of machinery; it is not a mere 
question of organization. There was nothing the matter with the organ- 
ization of the insurance companies. The trouble was with the use of 
the organization. Our real quarrel is not with the poUtical organiza- 



READS A NEW LESSON 141 

tions, for their use up to a certain point is indispensable, but our quarrel 
is with the use made of the political orgnizations." 

Referring to the methods employed by the special interests in legis- 
lative halls, Mr, Wilson said: 

"When there is an investigation, and bribery is disclosed, what is 
shown? Who are bribed? Is there miscellaneous bribery? Certainly 
not. Certain men who find they can control the organization are 
bribed, and, if there is any distribution of the money, they distribute it 
to make sure of what they want. Now what do they want? They want 
certain legislation passed at the State Capitol. I am drawing the il- 
lustration from a neighboring state where these things have been dis- 
closed, and therefore it is no scandal to speak of them. 

"They want certain legislation passed, or they want to prevent certain 
legislation being passed. What has been in the papers recently? The 
disclosure that something like $500,000 was paid by certain men in New 
York in order to prevent legislation to stop horse racing or betting on 
horses in the state of New York. This was paid by men who were mak- 
ing profits out of that business, or getting sport out of it, who did not 
want this legislation passed. They therefore contributed a fund to 
prevent its being passed. There, in its greatest and most obvious form, 
is an illustration of the alliance of part of the poHtical organization and 
business interests." 

Mr. Wilson suggested a remedy for the wiping out of the bad con- 
ditions, in these pithy sentences: "In the proportion that we are dis- 
gusted with the process of poUtics we are disgusted when we know these 
things to exist. The remedy in the insurance field w^as to change the 
men who were wrong and radically to change their point of view. Each 
part of the change was important. 

"First of all, they got new presidents and new Boards of Directors 
for these insurance companies so as to break the circuits, as it were, to 
curb the poHcy that had obtained and would obtain after that. Then 
they impressed upon these men by the influence of public opinion that 
they were administering not private but trust funds and that they must 
assume all the obligations and exercise all the care of those who are 
trustees. 

"We are endeavoring to make the change and we are seeking to make 
it now. We are seeking to change the men who are in control of the 



142 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

processes and we are seeking to get men whose point of view is an en- 
tirely dififerent point of view, who regard public ofifice as a public trust, 
disconnected with business, having nothing to do with special interests, 
but with general interests, the interests of every man. The motive 
force must come from the outside instead of from the inside in what we 
are seeking to do. You have got to move this machine and you have 
got to move it in the right direction and use it for right purposes. 

"There is nothing to say against the character, and, I beUeve, nothing 
to say against the purpose, of the Republican candidate for Governor, 
but he always has been led into mistaken uses of poHtical power. He is 
in the position of a former member of the Board of Guardians and you 
have to ask yourselves how probable is it that he will try to use the old 
organization, which is unpromising in itself, to new purposes." 

Mr. Wilson made himself plain as to where he stands regarding labor 
questions, upon which, he said, the Republicans had taken great pleasure 
in misrepresenting him. "All my life," said he with unwonted earnest- 
ness, "I have been the friend of the workingman and of the working- 
man's organization, but when I thought the organization was doing 
things against the general interest, of course I criticised it. I should not 
hesitate to criticise anything I beHeved to be wrong. 

" What would you think of a friend who, if you were doing a wrong, 
slapped you on the back and said you had never done a wrong in your 
life? The right kind of friend would be the one who would tell you of 
your wrong and try to set you straight. That is the only kind of friend 
I care to be. I did it once, and the Republicans are keeping that fact 
alive. They forget all the rest of my Hfe. They are good at forgetting. 
They can't even remember a promise made to you three years ago." 

Concluding in one of those strong appeals to the manhood and pride 
of his hearers, Mr. Wilson declared that the movement for the better- 
ment of things is sweeping the country and that the battle in New Jersey 
is attracting the attention of people in all of the United States. 

"It is positively exciting, positively thrilling, to be engaged in politics 
in tliis particular reign of grace," he said, "because to any man who has 
studied American history it seems as if here we were with the return of 
the tide, as if there had been for a great many years a long, dry, heated 
space of sand, from which the waves had withdrawn. 

"And now there is in the distance the roll and thunder of the tide. 



READS A NEW LESSON 143 

the returning purpose and consciousness of the American people, coming 
in, not hastily, not with a storm back of it, not with passion driving it, 
but slowly drawn and lifted by the great forces of nature, making up the 
shelving beach, cooling the sand, stretching wave after wave, higher and 
higher, Hfting with it all the refuse of the shore, cleaning as it went and 
sure presently to be at the flood, when all the forces of nature will seem 
to be renewed and the levels of American poUtics hfted again to their 
old exaltation." 

Mr. Wilson's long and arduous day began at 9 o'clock with the start 
in the touring cars from Flemington. After his great stir of Hunterdon 
County there was Httle chance for him to get a breath, so strenuous was 
the going every minute. The first objective point was Washington, 
Warren County, and the cars had traversed but a few miles of an excel- 
lent, even road when they were halted at a long stretch where rebuilding 
was under way and the only thing to do to avoid a sure hold-up was for 
all hands to get out and walk. 

Mr. Wilson was one of the first out and he cHmbed rail fences to make 
the detour through the fields to escape the quagmire made by excava- 
tions and recent rains; he showed that he was as nimble as anybody in 
the party and he was one of the most cheery over the mile walk to Leb- 
anon, where the cars, after pushing through the mud, awaited the pe- 
destrians. The way then led through CHnton, Glen Gardner and Hamp- 
ton, and while one or two short stretches of bad road were encountered, 
most of the way was good and, despite the delay, Washington was 
reached soon after 11 o'clock, a half hour after schedule. 

There on the sidewalk in front of Baker's Hotel were gathered fully 
500 men, and Senator Johnston Cornish, the State Committeeman from 
Warren, had gathered eight automobiles, prettily decorated with flags, 
for the run through the county. Here, too, were met many prominent 
men of this "always straight" Democratic county, among them former 
Assemblyman Joseph H. Firth, Mayor of Phillipsburg; former Judge Wil- 
liam H. Morrow, Assemblyman George B. Cole, who is going back for 
another term, and WiUiam E. Tuttle Jr., candidate for Congress in the 
Fifth district, sometimes alluded as to "Fowler's district." 

Much to Mr. Wilson's surprise, he was looked upon to make a speech 
and was carried almost on the shoulders of the cheering crowd up the 
narrow stairway to the little hall, into which 500 tried to squeeze, though 
it will hold only 250. The local managers declared that never had the 
town beheld anything to equal the unusual demonstration. Mr. Wilson 



144 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

was presented by J. M. Snyder, chairman of the County Committee, and 
he made a brief address which greatly stirred the gathering, largely com- 
posed of workingmen. 

"This is an unexpected pleasure," he said. "It is satisfactory and 
pleasing to me to see so many of my fellow-citizens gathered at this hour 
of the day. I have gone about in a good many places since the cam- 
paign opened and I have been most cordially received. I am not going 
about seeking office. My only desire is to serve the people of New 
Jersey to the best of my abiHty and understanding. You can't depend 
upon the poHtical machine to give you good government; the members 
of the machine do not explain or justify themselves. I believe in per- 
sonal responsibiUty; you can't hold a political organization responsible; 
it is too numerous and spread out too much. You can't kick a pohtical 
organization and you can't punish it in this world or the next. It is the 
officers who are supposed to serve you, your neighbors, that you must 
get at. You should require of them that they serve you and give an 
account of themselves." 

The crowd cheered as an earnest affirmation and then pressed in a 
dense mass about the commanding figure of the candidate as he was 
placed in Senator Cornish's car and the run begun for Hackettstown, 
eleven miles away, over a splendid macadam road, skirting fine hills and 
woodlands, the procession of eleven cars making a fine show along the 
way. At many points workers and drivers recognized Mr. Wilson in the 
forward car and set up a lusty cheer. 

Hackettstown, nicely decorated for the day, was reached soon after 
noon, and in the street in front of the American House fully looo per- 
sons had gathered and a noisy demonstration greeted the arriving 
cars. 

So insistent was the demand for a speech from the candidate that he 
doffed his overcoat and, standing in Senator Cornish's car, he spoke for 
most ten minutes, covering in a general way the points of his previous 
address, though couching his thoughts in new and attractive wording. 

"I do not speak for the machine," he said. "I do not represent any 
machine, and was not even asked to represent any. I am simply putting 
myself at the service of the people of New Jersey. It is not ofiice that 
I desirt;! would be just as well pleased to serve you in any other capacity. 
But the ofiices of your state have been badly managed, and I want to 
see if others cannot manage them a little better." 



READS A NEW LESSON 145 

The party had dinner at the hotel, and then drove on to Blairstown. 
sixteen more miles over rather poor roads through some of Warren's 
most beautiful hills. Mr. Wilson was greatly surprised at the big turnout 
there, for the population is only about 1200, and it looked as though 
every man, woman and child in the town, as well as the lads and lassies 
from Blairstown Seminary, had gathered on the porches, sidewalks 
and at the windows of houses in the immediate vicinity of the Blairs- 
town Hotel, and they showed how mighty glad they were to see the 
candidate. 

Mr. Wilson made another short speech from the touring car and 
shook many more hands thrust out eagerly to him. A quick run of 
six miles over more beautiful hills brought the party to Hope, the quaint 
old village founded by the Moravians, where a stone building erected in 
1 78 1 and long used as a house of worship is now an inn, where good, old 
Moravian applejack is dispensed to those who can stand the strain. 

There, as the cars were drawn up on the village green, Mr. Wilson 
spoke pleasantly and hopefully of the campaign outlook. The next stop 
was at Oxford, the iron mining and manufacturing centre, where Mr. 
Wilson addressed 300 more aroused persons gathered on the walk in 
front of Allen's drug store. Belvidere, the county seat, one of the 
prettiest of New Jersey's towns, was reached at 5 o'clock, and the wait- 
ing crowd jammed into the courthouse, where Mr. Wilson spoke for a 
few minutes to the admiring host. A stop was made at Roxbury for 
some handshaking, but no speech, and the twelve miles to this city 
was quickly run, the party arriving at the Lee House at 6.30. 

When Mr. Wilson entered the hall a crowd of jolly students from 
Lafayette College over in Easton, who occupied a space in the gallery, 
gave a few incipient war whoops, reeled off a bunch of hurrahs for the 
candidate and sang in student glee club style: 

"What's the matter with Wilson? 

He's all right. 
That is just the reason we're here to night. 

We've got 'Viv.' Lewis on the run. 

We've got the Republicans on the bum. 
What's the matter with Wilson? 

He's all right." 

The meeting was called to order by Thomas Barber, who presented 
Mr. Wilson. After the latter's speech Assemblyman Joseph P. Tumulty, 



146 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

of Hudson, who, with Captain S. E. Perry, had made the tour of the 
county with Mr. Wilson, made a strong address upon state issues, riddhng 
the RepubHcan administration and presenting many facts and figures 
gleaned from his four years' active work in the legislature to back his 
charges of misrule and extravagance. He also cited Lewis's legislative 
record to show that he had been a steadfast friend of the special in- 
terests which Mr. Wilson so vigorously flays. 



XXVI 
WINNER IN CONTRAST OF MEN 

GETS AUDIENCE THAT OVERFLOWS HALL NIGHT AFTER HANDFUL 
HAD GREETED LEWIS 

Newton, Oct. 22. — The paths of Woodrow Wilson and Vivian M. 
Lewis crossed to-day and, as they met on the road, they exchanged 
personal pleasantries and shook hands as though all the world were a 
sunny place after all. It happened just outside Hackettstown. Mr. 
Lewis had spoken here last night and was on his way to Flemington, 
while Mr. Wilson was on his way to stir up old Sussex. Their cars 
passed in the storm, but a flash of recognition caused a halt. 

Former Senator WilUam M. Johnson, muffied in a big fur coat, was 
riding with Mr. Lewis, and they jumped out to greet the rival candidate. 

"I hope you are faring well. Doctor," said Mr. Lewis, in a voice so 
husky as to be scarcely audible. "Very well," repUed Mr. Wilson; 
"but what are you doing for that voice?" "Oh, I'm taking medicine," 
said Mr. Lewis, smiling. "He'll have to take his medicine, all right," 
said State Committeeman Gallagher as the cars pulled away. 

The contrast between the reception accorded his rival and that ten- 
dered Mr. Wilson in Sussex was sadly sharp. Last night, when Mr. 
Lewis spoke, the public school auditorium, seating about 1000 persons, 
was not more than two thirds filled, and it is said to have been a rather 
doleful audience, too. To-night Mr. Wilson passed a double row of 
brightly illuminated houses on the way and, reaching the hall on the top 
floor of one of the largest and best public school buildings in the state, he 
faced a crowd that filled the auditorium completely, and Newton's 
population is only 6000. 

Of course, Sussex is a Democratic county and that would account for 
the difference in some measure, but Sussex is awake like all the other 
counties of New Jersey. There was a great blaze of fireworks, music, 
lights and enthusiasm and the people were deeply stirred. This, too, 
after a day of cold, sodden rain when physical effort was a task. The 

147 



148 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

enthusiasm was boundless and Mr. Wilson, despite his long, wearisome 
day, was in fine voice and excellent physical shape. 

With a large bust of Washington at his right and another of Lincoln 
at his left, Mr. Wilson made one of the best addresses of his campaign, 
presenting to the demonstrative audience the plain truths in which he 
has shown such strength. He said nobody doubted for an instant that 
the sympathies of the Democratic party were the fundamental sym- 
pathies of the people, and he argued that, in this campaign for the revival 
of a government for the people, it must be to the Democratic party that 
the common people turn for help. 

"This has been described," he said, "as a year of Democratic oppor- 
tunity; it may likewise be described as a year of Republican opportunity 
if the Republicans could only see the opportunity. The difference be- 
tween the two parties at the present juncture is that the one has and the 
other has not seen this. There never was a time when the voters were so 
detachable from their parties as they are in this particular year. The old 
formulas, the principles of the two parties as they were once stated, have 
not the same significance now that they once had, and men are holding 
themselves free to vote for ideas and for individuals rather than for 
parties. 

" Don't you see how it quickens the pulse to think of such a time when 
the candidates for the people's favor have to stand for something be- 
sides a party name? Party names are things to conjure with, particu- 
larly the ancient name of the Democratic party, which is older than any 
other party name now in use in the country. 

"But party names have in some degree in recent years lost their 
magic. Men will not wear party labels any longer; they attach them- 
selves to causes; they seek to elevate persons who represent those causes; 
even insincere men in some parts of this country are now masquerading 
in the handsome costume of great ideas for great principles. You can 
see the thing best displayed in the Republicans, you can see it displayed 
in that party because that party has been long in power and has, in the 
opinion of a growing number of persons in this country, misused its 
power. 

"Therefore the most notable insurgents in this country are at present 
made up of Republicans who have seen that their party leaders have been 
leading them in directions which are not sanctioned by principles of that 
party any more than they are sanctioned by the principles of the Dem- 
ocratic party." 



WINNER IN CONTRAST OF MEN 149 

Proceeding, Mr. Wilson went deep into the foremost thought of his 
campaign, the domination by the special interests of the poUtical 
machines for their own gain and power. He said that the party 
that first raises the standard of the new ideas and raises it with 
enthusiasm is going to be the first to draw the free-thinking element 
to itself. 

Some Republicans, he said, have sought to raise such a standard, but 
their party is divided and they are not united in that handsome purpose. 
The Democratic party is not divided, but is united in that purpose and 
has elevated that standard, and his prediction was that the people of 
this country, seeing that circumstance, are going to flock to the Dem- 
ocratic banner because that is the banner which now represents free- 
dom and progress. 

That evoked a mighty cheer from the men of Sussex, who say they will 
do handsomely for Woodrow Wilson on election day. He again dis- 
cussed in new thoughts and fresh ideas the subject of machine control, 
and declared it was that that the people were tired of and meant to 
throw off. 

It was another of those old-fashioned kinds of campaign days for Mr, 
Wilson and, though there was an all-day drive of rain or cold drizzle, he 
went sixty miles by automobile, visiting seven towns and shaking hands 
with numberless earnest men of Sussex, who declared the county is good 
for more than its old-time Democratic majority. In the afternoon he 
made a short address to a crowd that filled the public school hall, the 
residents braving the storm to see and hear him, and they decided that 
he was good. 

Starting this morning at 9 o'clock from Phillipsburg, where he scored 
such a signal triumph last night, Mr. Wilson doubled on his trail through 
Warren County and passed through Washington and Hackettstown, the 
rain at times beating hard upon his face as the car dashed over the fine 
stretch of road. From Hackettstown the rain was thickest to Andover 
and the candidate had good opportunity to learn the source of the old 
campaign voters' catch-line, "From the sun-kissed hills of old Sussex," 
only the hills were dripping and sodden. 

His travelling companions, State Chairman Nugent, Assemblyman 
Joseph P. Tumulty and State Committeeman Gallagher, did not care 
particularly to do much more motoring in the storm, but the Sussex 
County men had announced a schedule to which it was deemed advisable 
to adhere. Six other cars containing prominent Democrats of the county 
were on hand and, after a brief stop to shake hands, Mr. Wilson was 



ISO A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

placed in Theodore Simonson's car in the lead for the five-mile dash to 
Sparta. They called it a dash because it was so muddy. 

Former Senator Lewis J. Martin and Assemblyman Charles A. Meyers 
acted as ushers and announcers for the seeing-Sussex party, and even the 
Spartan mothers turned out to make the candidate feel glad. Mr. 
Wilson was in a happy mind despite the chill and despite the knowl- 
edge he must have had that this sort of effort is useless to the further- 
ance of the cause as he is presenting it. A Httle farther on the road and 
the northwesternmost corner of New Jersey was now being traversed. 
Ogdensburg was reached and Congressman "Billy" Hughes was picked 
up, for Sussex is part of the Sixth district, on which he seems to have a 
lien. 

A short stop also was made at Franklin Furnace, the busy, husthng 
zinc-mining town, and the borough of Sussex was reached almost on 
schedule time and dinner was served at the Goble Inn, many men of the 
locaKty turning out to greet the candidate. A meeting was held at 
2.30 in the public school hall in the centre of the village, a quaint old 
room where lads and lassies speak pieces. 

Once more Mr. Wilson was astonished that on such a day so large a 
company should turn out to see him, for the hall was crowded and 
many persons stood. He seemed to open his heart to these plain country 
folk from the farms, for his eye kindled, the genial smile possessed his 
rugged face and he was close to his hearers all the time. It was here 
that he told the people they must keep an eye on him if they elect him 
Governor, because he is going to do the things they are expecting him to 
do. After a little side trip to Branchville, nestling among the hills and 
trees, Mr. Wilson came the sixteen miles to this pretty place, where the 
end of his fourth week of heart talks to the people was reached. 

Mr. Wilson will go to his Princeton home to-morrow morning to 
freshen up for a full week of work, beginning at Camden Monday. 



XXVII 
LEADING PEOPLE TO LIGHT 

NEW JERSEY AWAKENING TO THE STRENGTH OF NEW KIND OF 
CAMPAIGN 

Trenton, Oct. 23. — One of the favorite questions of Woodrow Wilson 
to his audiences is: " Do you know what is happening not only in New 
Jersey, but in all parts of the United States? Why, that all over the 
land people are awakening to the need for a return to the form of govern- 
ment intended by the fathers." And in his keen, searching analyses of 
the conditions and of the trend of thought he never projects himself 
into the focus of that thought. It is always that he is only one of the 
instruments sought out to perform some part of the work to be done to 
bring about that change. 

It is somewhat amazing to those who closely follow him to discover 
that there apparently lurks not the suspicion of a selfish thought, but that 
in the heart that beats beneath the broad chest there is a love for hu- 
manity and a patriotism that move every fibre of his being and bid him 
attend to the task to which he is devoting such splendid effort. But 
while he evidently sees the great popular trend of thought he must 
necessarily see what is evident to the close observers of his new kind 
of campaign, that he is the embodiment of the movement that is going 
on in New Jersey, that his great mind and the lofty purpose that 
closes his ear to the petty and inconsequential atoms of the cam- 
paign are ,the dominant notes of the battle for better government in 
this state. But never for an instant does Mr. Wilson permit himself 
to be led into an admission of the thought. It is a liberal education 
to sit under the magic of this man's voice and catch the spirit of his 
s-ide and generous patriotism. 

What is happening in New Jersey, if some old political observers can 
be relied upon to estimate it, is that Woodrow Wilson is gripping the 
hearts and minds of the people, that he has gained tremendous strength 
in the four weeks he has been abroad among them, and that all who 

151 



152 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

see and hear the man are convinced of his greatness, of his sincerity and 
unflinching courage and honor. As has been pre\dously said, he does not 
wear one suit in one place and another in some other spot. He does 
not change his mental attitude or his viewpoint, or his forward course. 
It is straightaway, across fields and over rocks and through woods in a 
drive for the mark, and the mark is so high that men are led to the 
very pinnacle of faith in him. Somehow, there is that about this 
man that compels faith, there is that about him that arouses in men 
all hope and confidence that the sordid things of hfe are not, after all, 
the best of hving. 

It was amazing to Mr. Wilson in his old-fashioned campaign swing 
through the hills of Warren and Sussex counties the past week to dis- 
cover in the small towns so many of the plain people who were eager to 
hear the new sort of political address and to get the better idea of Hving. 
In one of these meetings, held in the cold drizzle of yesterday in a little 
old public school hall in the borough of Sussex, with but a scant 300 or so 
of population, he presented the view of life that right Hving, after all, 
is the only kind that wins out in the end and that men who do wrong are 
the losers; that it is utterly absurd for the gross and immoral to attempt 
to hoodwink their fellow-citizens, for there is history to be written and 
in history only the right triumphs. 

There was much more to the speech, which was not expected to be 
more than a mere word or two of greeting to the handful of people ex- 
pected at the meeting, but that was the dominant thought, as appHed 
to corruption in poHtics and the alHance of the special interests with the 
political machine, and it was surprising to see with what interest the 
audience hung upon his counsel and drank in his words, so plainly but 
so impressively sent forth. 

What is happening in New Jersey is that those who are so closely al- 
Hed with the special interests in the combination with poHtics are getting 
the scare of their Hves and they are making the effort of their careers to 
combat the widespreading influence of this man who is going up and down 
the state disclosing in stirring language and strong terms the alHance that 
has so long held its grip upon government when the people were pre- 
suming that they had elected men to represent them in legislative halls. 
What is happening in New Jersey is that at last the people are awakening 
to the necessity for action, that that action is likely to be taken in 
November and that the tremendous influence of the character and leader- 
ship of Woodrow Wilson is going to cause an upheaval. 

Mr. Wilson spoke in five counties the past week and always to tre- 



LEADING PEOPLE TO LIGHT 15^ 

mendous audiences, always to crowds that overflowed the halls in which 
the meetings were held, though the committees in every instance secured 
the largest halls. In one case, that at Flemington, it was necessary to 

Md two meetings to care for the multitudes and the candidate had to 

two speeches, which he did without a murmur of protest. In all 

meetings he has shown always the strong and lofty purpose, 

desire to present to the people the cause for which he stands, 

•'he makes it plain that if chosen Governor of the state he 

»xii v.c^ix_y w«c vxie program he has laid down for himself with no interests 

to clutch him, no organization to thrust obstacles in his way. And those 

who know the man, have known him for some years, have intimate 

knowledge of his career, both as a teacher and as head of the great 

Princeton University, declare there is no shadow of doubt that he will do 

exactly what he says. It is one of the fLxed habits of his Hfe. 

Therefore, what is happening in New Jersey is that the people are 
pinning their faith to a man who will not betray them the instant the 
campaign is over and he has gained their confidence and their votes to 
place him in ofiice. There is no mistaking the set of this strong current 
that seems to be sweeping over the state. It is everywhere apparent 
and it looks as though it were hardly necessary for the Democratic State 
Committee to do any of the ordinary work usually required of such com- 
mittees. It is certainly not necessary for them to "color" reports of 
the campaign. As a pure matter of fact no man has yet been equal to the 
task of adequately describing the tremendous scenes of enthusiasm that 
greet the candidate everywhere he presents himself and of the effect of 
his strong personaHty and his strong counsel upon his audiences. The 
people sit in rapt silence while with upraised finger he points the way of 
duty, of patriotic endeavor and shows the path to the new-old America. 
Then, all at once they reaKze something of the power that is deeply 
moving their better impulses and touching the vital chords within them, 
and they give vent to their pent-up feelings in outbursts of approval 
that cannot for an instant be misunderstood. 

There are but two more weeks of this new kind of campaign, and in this 
time Mr, Wilson will have other addresses to make and other thoughts 
to present. So far he has made something like thirty speeches, no two of 
them alike, though he speaks extemporaneously and sometimes without 
the slightest notice, but always there is the underlying thought and pur- 
pose, always the dominant note of a desire to serve the people in the 
manner which he considers to be his duty. He has encountered some 
situations wholly new and novel to a man so accustomed to the atmos- 



154 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

phere of education; he has rubbed up against some rather trying and 
patience-exhausting advisers, but never does he lose that calm, sunny 
and charitable demeanor to which so many thousands of people of the 
state are destined to have close acquaintance. This "man of the hour" 
is more than that. He is the man of the future for New Jersey and for 
America. 



XXVIII 
FREE OF ALLIANCES 

MERCILESSLY FLAYS MACHINE CONTROL IN CAMDEN, HOTBED OF 
MACHINE POLITICS 

Camden, Oct. 24. — It remained for Woodrow Wilson to give to the 
city of Camden the largest political gathering in its history, to-night. 
And in this hotbed of machine poHtics he flayed the aUiance of the 
political machine with the special interests in a manner that must have 
made some of his Repubhcan auditors wince, for there were among his 
hearers no small number of officeholders who must have reahzed fully 
just what he was driving at, as everybody else understood. So great 
was the pressure to see and hear this new leader of men that the Demo- 
cratic managers were forced to arrange for two meetings and two ad- 
dresses by this new sort of candidate for Governor who is setting New 
Jersey ablaze. He spoke in the Temple Theatre, uptown, and the Broad- 
way Theatre, downtown, and in both the houses the jam was so great 
that men could scarcely breathe. Uptown an overflow meeting was 
arranged, the speakers talking to 2000 more persons congregated in 
Market Street, from a platform hastily devised upon a truck. In all 
some 7000 persons must have gathered, and Mr. Wilson reached at least 
4000 of them with the electric thrill of his masterly voice, the mag- 
netism of his presence and the influence of his great mind and heart. 
And to that immense throng the sturdy man whose courage is so refresh- 
ing gave voice to this declaration of independence, a plain, straightfor- 
ward expression of his attitude toward the men who are supposed to have 
worked out his selection: 

"I want to say, therefore, that I understand the present campaign to 
mean this, that if I am elected Governor I shall have been elected leader 
of my party and shall have been elected Governor of all the people of 
New Jersey, to conduct the government in their interest and in their 
interest only, using party and party coherents for that service. If the 

155 



156 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Democratic party does not understand it in that way, then I want to say 
to you very frankly that the Democratic party ought not to elect me 
Governor. When I was approached with regard to the nomination for 
the Governorship I understood it to be distinctly represented to me that 
the purpose of those who asked my leave to use my name for that pur- 
pose was that I should be invited to take the leadership of the Democratic 
party. If they do not understand it they ought to withdraw the in- 
vitation on the eighth day of November. 

" I am not claiming that I am quaUfied for leadership — that is not the 
point; but I am claiming that I did not seek the leadership, and that I 
was asked to take it, but that I was asked to take it with the understand- 
ing that I was absolutely free from pledges and obligations of any kind. 
Now, I have been asked if I have said that the Democratic party has 
been reorganized. No, I have not said that; I have said that the Demo- 
cratic party is seeking reorganization. It depends on the voters on the 
eighth day of November whether it gets it or not. That is the issue. If 
you think I am a suitable leader and that my leadership will produce a 
reorganization and that I can put that party upon a new footing and give 
it new objects, then it is clearly your duty to support me ; but if you do 
not think so, then I must just as frankly say that it is as clearly your duty 
not to support me. The only thing about it, when I say that, is that I 
don't know what you are going to do if you don't, because on the other 
side there is no principle, or any kind of reorganization. So, if it is re- 
organization, a new deal and a change you are seeking, it is Hobson's 
choice. I am sorry for you, but it is really vote for me or not vote 
at all." 

This declaration came almost at the end of his impressive address up- 
town, and it brought from the immense audience a great and powerful 
expression that it had gone home, replying to the criticism of those who 
take particular dehght in alluding to the past records of the Democrats 
as a piece of what may be expected under the administration of Woodrow 
Wilson in case of his election. It is supposed also to be the epitome of 
the answer to George L. Record, the Hudson County "Progressive" 
candidate for Congress, who queried Mr. Wilson upon nearly all the 
topics upon which he has made himself very plain in his addresses in the 
campaign. The presumably unanswerable query put to Mr. Wilson was 
as to his party's record, and his reply, instantly recognized by the vast 
assemblage, was regarded as a triumph for the candidate who has pre- 
viously declared his freedom in no uncertain language. 




JUDGE HOWARD CARROW 



FREE OF ALLIANCES 157 

Nobody in Camden ever saw the parallel of to-night's great double 
demonstration. It simply dazed the leaders of the Republican machine, 
who had clung to some faint hope that perhaps enthusiastic admirers of 
the opposing candidate for Governor had been injecting a little effective 
"color" into their reports of his receptions and the effect of his speeches 
in other sections of the state. They had no difficulty in discovering that 
there had been no deception. Camden, confidently looked forward to 
for its usual 6000 or 7000 majority for Banking Commissioner Lewis, 
was astir from Pyne Poynt to Line Ditch, and the people went wild in 
their efforts to see and hear Woodrow Wilson. There was a parade of 
clubs, and 300 first voters were among the marchers, but when they got 
to the Temple Theatre only half of them could get into seats reserved 
for them. The rest had to join the crowd out on the street. The theatre 
was so closely jammed that not another nose could be squeezed into an 
aperture, and the enthusiasm fairly oozed from the crowd. 

In the boxes were a number of men and women prominent socially 
and most of them usually aUied with the RepubHcan party, but now 
devoted to the cause of Wilson and his new kind of campaign. The meet- 
ing was called to order by County Chairman WiUiam H. Davis, who pre- 
sented former Judge Howard Carrow as chairman; and Mr. Carrow, in 
the full vigor of his resonant voice, aroused the great crowd to heights 
of enthusiasm in his introduction of the speaker as the leader of the new 
thought in American pohtical endeavor, the greatest mind before the 
people of the nation to-day, a man who had never been identified with 
politics, except as a teacher of the youth of the land, and who was free 
of all alliances, "the next Governor of New Jersey!" 

As Mr. Wilson stepped to the front of the brightly lighted and hand- 
somely decorated stage the great assemblage arose as one man and 
cheered and cheered the man who loomed so strong before them. It was 
one of the most demonstrative receptions he had yet received and it 
moved him deeply. It was some seconds before he could proceed with 
his address, and then it could be seen that his heart was sweUing with the 
sentiments that swayed him. Said he: 

"I have met a great many audiences in this state in this campaign, 
and the interesting thing to me is that they all look alike, which I sup- 
pose shows that they are all of the true Jersey breed; but they look alike 
in this respect, that they do not seem to have come together for a trifling 
object like mere curiosity; there is a look in their faces as if they thought 
some new business was astir, and some business is astir. Two weeks from 



158 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

to-morrow the election will come. We are on the homestretch and we 
are bound for home; we are bound for the place from which the Demo- 
cratic party has been long excluded, but where, I will venture to assert, 
it has long belonged. There is an unmistakable increase in warmth and 
ardor as we approach the day of conquest. There is a necessary ex- 
amination of our own purposes of mind as to what we intend to do, and 
I congratulate this body of first voters in front of me that they are going 
to cast their votes for the first time in such a free year, in a year of such 
freedom of choice, in a year when party lines are not sharply drawn, when 
men are chosen not as between parties, but, I believe in my heart, chosen 
for the future of America. 

"I do not need to tell the citizens of Camden County what the boss 
system is. You know a boss when you see him, and you have plenty of 
opportunities to see him. You know, as well as I do, that the boss 
system has nothing to do with political questions. There was a very 
astute ward politician in the city of New York who said 'There ain't no 
politics in politics,' by which he meant that when you are discussing the 
matter of who are going to have the offices and exercise the power, no- 
body is interested in public questions; men do not differ with each other 
as to public policies. Those are things, from the point of view of such 
politicians, to be talked of on the stump, to take in, to fool, to mislead 
the dear public, as they call them behind locked doors. The real thing 
to be discussed is a thing that can be discussed between the two machines 
without any feeling that there is any political difference between them. 
It is how to get hold of the spoils of office and keep them. And the boss 
system is backed in this endeavor by all sorts of power that ought never 
to be used in the field of politics. There are men here who can bear 
testimony to the fact that they dare not vote as they think, because of 
the terrorizing that some political leaders are able to exercise. There 
are some men here who can testify that they cannot borrow money at 
certain banks if they do not vote a certain particular political ticket. 
Give political bosses and poHtical machines offices enough to distribute, 
business enterprises enough to subscribe to their funds, business con- 
nections enough to terrorize great bodies of employes — and they will 
defy you to turn them out of office. Give them, in addition to that, 
grand juries that never find true bills in political cases and public pros- 
ecutors who never try to get true bills, and the system is complete. 

"It is generally supposed that men who closet themselves, as they like 
to say, in colleges, do not know what is going on in the actual world. 
We do not study politics in college out of books; we study it out of life 



FREE OF ALLIANCES 159 

and out of facts. We know the calibre and the character and the motives 
of those men and can produce you the witnesses. 

" Is this the Repubhcan party of the county of Camden? This county 
is the home of men who from honorable principles as well as from long 
tradition have voted the Republican ticket — have voted it because of 
their character, adhering to it as to family traditions and to the great 
historical principles of a party which in the past has rendered the 
country a great service. But do these men accept such things and such 
organizations as the representatives of the Republican party? This is 
not the Republican party; it isn't any party; 'There ain't no politics in 
politics.' These men devoted to the traditions of the party of Lincoln, 
these men devoted to those great principles which that great party orig- 
inated to defend, and has sought to defend in all its honest numbers ever 
since! They have no thought or care for any principle or historic recol- 
lections of any kind; they are in the game for what it is worth. 

''You know the objects of machine government. The objects of 
machine government are to prevent anything being done that will be 
inimical to certain interests, and to get everything done which is advan- 
tageous to certain interests. By certain interests I mean business in- 
terests, not political interests. The machine is a partnership, an il- 
legitimate and abominable partnership, between business and politics. 
Now the day when this thing can exist is past. The American people 
know it, and the American people are not going to permit it a single 
twelvemonth more." 

Alluding to the operation of the machine in legislation and referring 
to thp.New York exposure, Mr. Wilson said: 

"You know there is only one thing about us that is immortal in this 
world, and that is our reputation.^.-^ does not make any difference 
after these exposures whether the men are put behind prison walls or 
not. They have forever violated their faith, and that kind of treatment 
is being prepared everywhere for that kind of men. Everywhere there 
has been a cleaning up, a cleaning of house, an absolute repudiation of 
all politics of that sort from one end of the United States to the other. 
I don't mean everywhere, but, taking the country by samples in other 
r.ections of it, there has been a repudiation of it, and don't you hear the 
thunder of the wave that comes on? Do you suppose this beach we stand 
on can remain dry much longer? Do you suppose that tide is going to 
be stopped because some man lifts his hand and protests and asks it to 



i6o A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

come no farther? If you want to escape being engulfed you better retire 
from the reach of the sea, and there is no place to go, because the sea is 
human opinion, the sea is the discovery of seeing things and the over- 
whelming power is the overwhelming condemnation that will fall upon 
such men upon their discovery. 

''The tide is coming in. Let those who don't know how to swim and 
keep their heads above water look to it. 

" I know how it happens. These things drift in great drifts, as they do 
in politics; men do not see in which way they are moving, and every- 
body about them is doing the same thing. Some people think that every- 
thing is graft. Now, of course, there isn't graft in everything; we have 
not grown morally rotten; but there is a subtle kind of growth in a great 
many things. Whenever you get somebody with influence to do some- 
thing that somebody else without influence cannot do, that is graft. 

"I was sitting in the waiting room of an eminent surgeon one afternoon 
a few years ago, waiting for my turn to consult him, and I waited there 
for three mortal hours; and in the meantime I saw several very much 
more fashionably dressed people than I was take precedence over me, and 
I was sure that they had no prior engagement with the doctor. Now, 
that was graft. There is every kind of graft, from the graft which is 
induced by the handsome dress and the beauty of a distinguished-looking 
woman to the graft produced by the actual handling of hard cash. All 
influences that ought not to exist, all inequalities produced by 'working' 
some fellow, is graft. 

"And so every time you wink at a friend and say 'That is all right; I 
will fix it up for you; I will see that you get in' — you are beginning on 
the road which ends at the place that I have described, and I warn you 
— I warn you to keep off, because the American people have their eye 
on you, and they are getting intolerant of that kind of thing, and you 
must not carry it too far." 

Mr. Wilson made a great hit with his auditors by this humorous but 
pointed allusion to his own candidacy: 

"Now, the chairman has said that the Democratic party has 
picked out a man whose orbit cannot be calculated. The Republicans 
are looking at him askance. They say: 'Who is this? A school- 
master, a gentleman who never before took any part in politics, or 
offered to take any part in politics, who has enjoyed the luxury for 
a great many years of going about the country and expressing opin- 



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JUDGE WILLIAM C. FRENCH 



FREE OF ALLIANCES i6i 

ions for which he could not be held responsible.' Now, 'Who in the 
world,' they say, 'can tell what this man is going to do?' There 
have been many predictions, all the way from the prediction that 
he would not do anything, to the prediction that if he got there, there 
would not be anything left of the government, the last prediction having 
been made by a sage statesman of the city of Camden. Well, I hope that 
when the Democratic candidate gets there, there will not be anytliing left 
of a certain kind of government, the kind of government with which the 
said sage statesman is most familiar. But I am not in the least sur- 
prised they have disturbed thoughts about the Democratic candidate. 
I know what his intentions are, but I cannot tell what his performances 
are going to be. You have got to take a sportsman's chance and risk 
it, but I can promise you this, that it will not be dull; it will be interest- 
ing. I doubt if it will be as interesting to you as it will be to me, but it 
will be interesting. There is one thing to which the candidate himself 
can testify. He can tell you confidentially that he knows a thing or two, 
that he is not as innocent as he looks, and that he is not as young as he 
looks. All of which, turning from jest to earnest, means this, that the 
Democratic party is attempting a new leadership and a new organiza- 
tion, and the Republican party is not. With such a candidate, so 
inexperienced in machine politics, and unable to understand them, 
it is impossible that the Democracy should run politics upon the 
machine basis. Their chief instrumentality would be too clumsy and 
bungling; whereas, it is perfectly feasible and highly likely that the 
Republican organization would continue business at the old stand and 
in the old way." 

From this his deduction was that the way to break up this unholy 
alliance is through a corrupt practices act that will reveal and correct 
the evil, and a direct primary act that will give the people a chance to 
choose officers who will execute the laws. To this he added: 

"There isn't a single reform that is interesting us in the present cam- 
paign that does not swing back upon this boss system of political control 
and political alliance that we want to break up. But it is not sufficient 
to have statutes on the books. Statutes don't work themselves. And I 
would rather have men who intend to serve the public trying to work a 
body of bad statutes than men who don't mean to serve the public 
trying to work a body of good statutes. Your salvation does not lie in 
statutes; it lies in the men, and the men who can serve you are the men 



i62 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

who depend upon you for political results. They want to work and not 
upon the machine." 

After Mr. Wilson had concluded he was whirled away to the Broad- 
way Theatre and his Temple audience was addressed by former Mayor 
Katzenbach, of Trenton, and former Mayor Nowrey, of Camden, the 
candidate for Congress, both of whom were given strong ovations. At 
the Broadway Theatre Mr. Wilson encountered the same big crowd, 
only bigger than his first audience, and it was, if anything, more demon- 
strative. The meeting was called to order by William C. French, and 
former Judge Wescott was chairman. Previous to the arrival of Mr. 
W^ilson an address was made by Colonel Alexander Bacon, of New York, 
and by former Mayor Katzenbach and former Mayor Nowrey, who were 
then taken to the Temple meeting. 

A delegation of 200 students of the University of Pennsylvania, under 
the leadership of Chatford Smith, of the Medical School, attended the 
meeting at the Broadway Theatre, having been crowded out of the 
Temple. These men are enthusiastic followers of President Wilson and 
joined with the large delegation of Princeton men who are attending the 
professional schools at Pennsylvania in giving him a rousing reception. 



XXIX 

SALEM RESPONSIVE TO PLEA 

HIS PROMISE TO BE A NEW KIND OF GOVERNOR ENTHUSES BIG 
AUDIENCE 

Salem, Oct. 25. — With another masterly appeal to the people to rouse 
themselves to the need of the hour to action for the divorce of govern- 
ment from the sordid special interests, Woodrow Wilson continued his 
blazing of the trail for good government to-day and to-night. He ad- 
dressed an immense crowd of deeply interested Salem County people here 
in the Grand Opera House, which was altogether too small for the pur- 
pose, hundreds occupying the stage, lobbies, aisles and doorways, as 
always happens when he appears. 

It was a noisy, demonstrative crowd, too, for Salem, not always 
swift to appreciate new and good things, really has awakened to the value 
and importance of what this man is striving for. The Democratic party, 
he said, "is offering you a brand-new kind of Governor. I don't know 
and don't like to ask whether you like it, but you admit it is at least 
novel." 

"I propose if elected Governor to talk about everything that happens 
in Trenton," he said later on, and for both of these succinct statements 
of his position, which had followed a more elaborate portrayal of con- 
ditions and his stand concerning them, the large audience demonstrated 
its mark of approval. The day had been a tedious and trying one to Mr. 
Wilson, with a long tour of the county, but he reached this city in time 
to snatch a few minutes' rest and he was in excellent form. 

When he appeared on the Opera House stage the immense meeting, 
one of the largest political gatherings held in the city for years, was 
called to order by the memorable Morris Stratton, one of the city's 
oldest and best-known residents, who presented Mr. Wilson without 
delay, and a great shout greeted him. Mr. Wilson won his audience 
from the start by telling two or three witty stories illustrative of points 
he had to score, but he soon reached the more serious aspects of his 

163 



i64 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

address and also had his hearers gripped with that great interest which 
seems so easy for the man. It was in his favorite theme of people op- 
posed to political machine domination that brought from him the most 
earnest passages and showed most clearly the high purpose that sways 
his rugged character. He aroused great interest when he said: 

"New Jersey is only taking a part in this campaign, a great movement 
which has stirred the whole country, a movement for independence and 
reorganization and purity in politics. And yet it has struck me as a 
singular thing that my opponents, the Republican campaign speakers, 
have made all of their attacks, so far as I have had time to read them, 
not upon my position as a representative of the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party in this campaign, but upon me as a person. Their attacks 
have been entirely inconsistent with one another and therefore they have 
been amusing; they have been of such a nature as not to stir my anger 
in the least, because they have not been true, 

"You know you do not resent any imputation which is false, which is 
notoriously false, because you are not afraid anybody will believe it. 
The things that you resent are the things that are true. I am not con- 
cerned with the character of these attacks, except to point out how 
singularly they illustrate the absurdity of the whole thing. For ex- 
ample, these gentlemen began by sneering at me as a learned man. Why 
I should be sneered at because I am supposed to have learning, which 
I do not admit, by the way, I cannot understand, but on the supposition 
that I am learned, and on the supposition that I have written a history 
of the United States, which they seem to hold against me, how is it 
credible that I should say the things which they say that I have 
said?" 

Mr. Wilson once more laid strong emphasis upon the fact that he 
never had made the declaration that only college-bred men should hold 
public office or that he had ever expressed any opposition to organized 
labor. These declarations pleased the large number of farmers, glass- 
workers and other plain but substantial people in the audience. Refer- 
ring to the campaign of misrepresentation to which he has been subjected, 
Mr. Wilson went on: 

"Why are these gentlemen so hard put? Why must these gentlemen 
make these crude charges in order to effect their objects and stop the 
momentum of the campaign? Why is it in the city of Camden that the 



SALEM RESPONSIVE TO PLEA 165 

rolls must be padded 20 per cent, more than usual? Why is it orders 
have gone forth there that methods for the purchase of the ballot have 
to be resorted to more than ever? Why do these gentlemen resort to 
these methods unless they are hard put to it, and why are they hard put 
to it? 

"Who are the gentlemen who are leading the Republicans in New 
Jersey now?" cried Mr. Wilson, impressively. ''They are the men who 
have turned their backs upon all the progressive elements in their own 
ranks and oppose those who were against the things they knew were 
going to ruin the Republican party." 

The day's trip gave Mr. Wilson one more glimpse into the old style of 
campaigning. Yielding to the pressure, he visited seven towns of Salem 
County, covering about fifty miles of roads good, bad and indifferent, 
especially indifferent, and making two little afternoon speeches and wind- 
ing up with his fine effort in this city to-night. In all the towns the can- 
didate was most cordially greeted by admiring crowds, who seemed to 
be deeply impressed with the idea that he would do. 

The trip began at 1 1 o'clock, the automobiles meeting Mr. Wilson and 
his party at the Bellevue-Stratford, Philadelphia, and crossing to Cam- 
den, where a stop was made to pick up former Mayor Joseph E. Nowrey, 
candidate for Congress, who occupied a seat with State Chairman Nugent 
on all the rest of the trip, sharing the honors with Mr. Wilson and show- 
ing a popularity nearly as widespread. 

The run through Camden and Gloucester counties was made quickly, 
and Elmer, the first stopping point in Salem, was reached at 10 o'clock, 
strictly on schedule time. There several hundred men were gathered 
on the street in front of Garrison's Hall and several motor-car loads of 
Salem County 'sprominent Democratshad stopped to greet the candidate. 
Among the latter were Colonel D. Stewart Craven, with Clark Pettit, 
Joseph K. Waddington and Charles Dunn. A short distance down the 
street were lined up fully 150 public school children, from the tiny kin- 
dergartner to the rosy-cheeked high-school lass, waiting to see Mr. 
Wilson. 

Mayor Vandegrift imparted that information to the candidate, who 
at once made his way to the children and shook hands all around, smil- 
ingly, passing a word or two as he proceeded. One shy little girl of ten 
or eleven presented him with a hugebouquet of chrysanthemums, dahlias, 
cosmos and other autumn flowers, which greatly delighted Mr. Wilson. 
Yielding to the pressure, Mr. Wilson consented to go up into Garrison's 



i66 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Hall, which in an incredibly short time was overcrowded with inter- 
ested people. 

Mayor Vandegrift opened the meeting, presenting Rev. E. J. Gwynne, 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church, for chairman. It had been ex- 
plained that, although a Republican, Mr. Gwynne is red-hot for Mr. 
Wilson and he had not spoken many seconds until he proved the cor- 
rectness of that statement. 

" Some say he will be bossed," said the chairman. A healthy-looking 
specimen of manhood, who explained that Mr. Wilson had been his 
friend while a student at Princeton, interrupted, "But thousands know 
better. One look at the jaw God Almighty has given him as it comes 
down like a trip-hammer will tell you different." 

Mr. Wilson, though he was not expected to make any remarks during 
his day tour, made a clever short address, declaring that he considered 
it a great privilege to meet such bodies of his fellow-citizens who show 
such interest in the ofiaces of the state now under discussion, 

"I am not seeking this office," he said. "I was engaged in a work in 
which I was deeply interested, but I have always taught and believed it 
the duty of citizens of this free land to serve their country in any way 
possible. And now that I have taken this nomination I want you to 
understand what I stand for. The Democratic party wants me to serve 
the people of New Jersey to obtain what they cannot obtain any other 
way. The Republicans have broken their promises and the people are 
tired of broken promises. 

"The organization of the Republican party is so tied up with certain 
interests that they can't keep their promises without breaking faith with 
the interests. They don't represent any political party, they don't rep- 
resent any policy; the special interests would as leave serve one party as 
another, and they would as leave be served by one party as another. 
There is no politics in their organization. The Democrats have now 
put up a man notoriously bold to do as he pleases. Whichever party 
wins command of the Government has got to keep it by deserving it; 
otherwise the jig is up." 

Warm applause followed the brief address and Candidate Nowrey 
made a short but effective speech, calling upon the people to vote for 
better government. 

On behalf of the ladies of the borough Mr. Gwynne presented 
Mr. Wilson three great bouquets, which brought broad smiles to his face. 




CAPT. RALPH W. E. DOXGES 



SALEM RESPONSIVE TO PLEA 167 

After dinner the party pulled out for Woodstown, but the Wilson car 
and the correspondents' car got on the wrong road, went about eight 
miles out of the way, doubled on their trail, struck a quagmire in one of 
the state's worst pieces of road, and pulled into Woodstown nearly an 
hour late. There a large assemblage had waited patiently, and scout 
cars were out searching for the lost ones. 

When they pulled up at the intersection of the main streets the crowd 
pressed about the cars and Mr. Wilson was pressed to say a few words to 
the people expressing appreciation of their mark of approval and pledg- 
ing himself to be Governor for all the people, A quick run brought the 
party to Pedricktown, where another party patiently was awaiting the 
candidate's appearance. Short stops were made at Pennsgrove and 
Pennsville, where scores came to shake Mr. Wilson's hand. 

At Pennsville Mr. Wilson was given another fine bouquet from the 
school children, marshalled by their principal, J. C. Lloyd, a Republican 
admirer of the candidate, who made a neat speech. Speaking in the 
most fatherly and kindly spirit, Mr. Wilson said, "Suppose I should 
play the flower game you all know about and say as I pick off the petals, 
T'm elected; I'm not elected." "Hurrah!" cried the kiddies, gleefully. 

The run of twelve miles to this city included another unbearably bad 
bit of road, but the party arrived without accident. Mr. Wilson learned 
later that, in mistaking the road, the party had missed a stirring scene 
at Pole Tavern, where nearly 150 school children assembled to raise a 
great flag on his approach. They had to raise it without his presence. 

Former Mayor Katzenbach, of Trenton, joined the party just after 
supper, ready to present Mr. Wflson's claim to the people who had so 
loyally supported him three years ago. Ralph W. Donges, the Camden 
lawyer, and John T. Rice, a personal friend of Mr. Nowrey, made the 
run over all the route. A party of Cumberland County enthusiasts 
motored over from Bridgeton to hear Mr. Wilson speak again. 

Stirring speeches also were made by Mr. Katzenbach and Mr. Nowrey, 
who kept the attention of the big audience, and Mr. Wilson was taken 
to Philadelphia in the automobile immediately after the meeting. 



XXX 

SEES A BETTER DAY 

NEW jersey's standard BEARER TELLS HUGE AUDIENCE THE 
FUTURE IS SAFE 

New Brunswick, Oct. 26. — Woodrow Wilson's message to the people 
of Middlesex County especially, and to the people of New Jersey in 
general, was one of great cheer for the future of America. He depicted 
in thrilling eloquence the existing conditions of which the people are so 
weary, pointed the way to better things and said the future, of which 
some historian will one day write, is safe. 

He had been whimsical in his manner, an unusual thread of humor 
arousing the spirits of his vast audience, but these passages only led, by 
way of illustration, to the more serious aspect of his address, and he gave 
much food for reflection to the 200,000 people of Middlesex County, 
where for years Republican machine politics held a grip till Senator 
George S. Silzer shook things up and brought a great change with a suc- 
cession of Democratic victories, 

Mr. Wilson's main theme was the preservation of human rights, which, 
according to vested interests, are the rights to which they are entitled 
under the law. "It is a constant unending struggle," he said with im- 
pressive emphasis, "a struggle for human rights under the law." 

In all of the meetings so far held in nineteen counties in the state Mr. 
Wilson faced a no more interested nor more enthusiastic audience, and at 
no time was he in better form. His dominant thought was that, under 
present political conditions, human rights are held in small cause, but 
the time is coming when the people of New Jersey and of all of the other 
states of the United States are to restore the Government of their fathers. 

From every point of the Opera House where a man could sit or stand 
an eager face was turned toward the handsomely decorated stage, where 
Mr. Wilson, with his escorts, entered, and a mighty cheer arose for this 
man, whose spare face and gaunt figure grow handsome as one comes to 
know him. High up in the gallery stood hundreds who could find no 

168 



SEES A BETTER DAY 169 

seats, while all the aisles and entrances were jammed. But during all of 
the hour occupied by the candidate in his address there was scarcely a 
whisper or so much as the shuffling of a foot, so intense was the interest. 

The meeting was called to order by County Chairman Hagerty, who 
presented Surrogate Peter F. Daly, one of New Jersey's best orators, as 
chairman. "At a time when the people of New Jersey are so weary and 
heavy-laden under the burden of bad government," he said, "it is well to 
have this man, with the God-given arm to fight and the God-given voice 
to plead for good government. This man, of whom it has been said he 
is not only the man of the hour, but the man of the future for New Jersey 
and for America, Woodrow Wilson." 

Amid the wild cheers and applause which greeted Mr. Wilson as he 
stepped to the footlights there arose the din of a "locomotive" yell by a 
bunch of Rutgers students in the orchestra chairs. 

"It makes me feel very much at home to face this phalanx in front of 
me," said Mr. Wilson. " I have been accustomed to seeing young gentle- 
men like these, but I know by experience they will not absorb it all. A 
friend of mine, who is a member of the faculty of Yale University, helped 
me at one time in moments of discouragement by saying that in teaching 
for twenty years he had come to the conclusion that the human mind had 
infinite resistance in resisting the influences of knowledge. In that re- 
spect the Republican organization leaders share the characteristics of 
the human mind. They have not received very much in respect to the 
movements of politics." 

Proceeding, Mr. Wilson unfolded his thought, which was that the 
people are tired of promises that are broken and want programs that are 
carried out, and he likened the present spirit of unrest and demand for 
change to that which gave birth to the Magna Charta. On this line he 
said: 

"I say that we are not interested in platforms as mere promises cast 
in vague language. We are interested in them only when they seem to 
be programs, and what interests me about the present time, I must admit, 
is that everywhere men are interested in great programs. Have you read 
the papers recently attentively enough to notice the rumors that are 
coming across the water? Some very unusual and interesting things 
are happening in England. The English parties are separated, so far 
as their progressive elements are concerned, as little as the American 
parties are separated, and what is happening right now is that the liberal 
and conservative factions are holding a joint conference in order to effect 
concerted action with regard to a common program. 



lyo A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"And what are the rumors? The rumors are that the program prob- 
ably includes, not only self-government for Ireland, but self-government 
for Scotland and the drawing together in London or somewhere else of 
a Parliament which will represent the British Empire in a great con- 
federated state upon the model, no doubt, of the United States 
of America, and having its power to the end of the world. What 
is the program? What is at the bottom of that program? At the 
bottom of it is the idea that no little group of men like the 
English people have the right to govern men in all parts of the world 
without drawing them into real substantial partnership, where their 
voice will count with equal weight with the voice of other parts of 
the country. 

"This voice that has been crying in Ireland, this voice for home rule, 
is a voice which is now supported by the opinion of the world; this im- 
pulse, which has always remained in Scotland, the spirit of pride in the 
history of the Scottish people, is a spirit that ought to be respected and 
recognized in the British Constitution. It means not mere vague talk 
of men's rights, men's emotions and men's inveterate and traditional 
principles, but it means the embodiment of these things in something 
that is going to be done, that will look with hope to the program that 
may come out of these conferences. 

"Do you think that program means anything in that little kingdom 
of Portugal, that has just now changed its program over night? Do you 
suppose that the people there are interested in vague phrases? They 
have listened all their lives to the talk of law and promises of liberty, 
but they want the substance of the law and the substance of liberty. 
They had a corrupt Government which was not likely to become other 
than corrupt under the young, easily influenced boy who was King of 
Portugal. So they insisted upon taking their own affairs in their own 
hands. They want the real. They do not want vague promises and 
phrases. Men are tired of words. 

"What is the oldest struggle that we read about, when men began to 
organize themselves in political states? It was the struggle of the in- 
dividual not to be too much controlled by Government. You know what 
an unconquerable thing is in you. It is the feeling that you are an in- 
dividual, and that you will not be subordinated to any other man or 
any other organization; and, therefore, when Government plays too 
much upon your affairs without your participation and consent you are 
restless under the bondage. 

"If those who conduct the Government are not careful the restlessness 



SEES A BETTER DAY 171 

will spread with rapid agitation until the whole country is aflame, and 
then there will be revolution and a change of Government." 

Slowly unfolding this thought of individual rights, Mr. Wilson brought 
it down to the contest with cooperative organization, citing the building 
of the railway, its development of the country and then the total de- 
pendence of that country upon the railroad. Said he: 

"After it is developed, the movement of individuals and freight and 
everything you want to move, in other words, all your connections with 
the rest of the world, are in the hands of that corporation. That is the 
reason why we are so interested in having a Public Utilities Commission. 
We cannot move or handle our goods otherwise, but somehow it is not 
adjusted to us. We have all sorts of suspicions as to what it is adjusted 
to, but it is not adjusted to us. Our lives are unjustly inconvem'enced 
by the way it is handled. Don't you see how that illustrates what I am 
talking about? We haven't got these instrumentalities adjusted for the 
use we want to make of them and they are so big we are bothered how to 
handle them. That is the reason that so many people talk in the terms 
of big corporations. They are all so dependent upon each other that we 
have to pool our interests and cooperate in every respect. 

"That is the Socialistic program. My own objection to the So- 
cialistic program is that it will not work. We are constantly struggling 
for programs big and little, the biggest is the Socialistic and the smallest 
of all programs is that of the stand-patter. In his program it is largely 
negative; it says we have done a lot of things, accomplished a lot of things; 
most of these have been disappointing, therefore let us not do anything. 
That is a program that is very popular, that is the program that I have 
every day when I am tired and want to loaf, that is the program I am 
going to carry out at any rate for a few weeks after the campaign is over. 
I don't mean to stand pat long enough to stagnate and, moreover, I 
expect to have something to do after this campaign is over." 

A tumult of cheers followed that sally. From that on Mr. Wilson 
unfolded his great thought that the great future need is for action by the 
whole people to adjust these entanglements and that, so far as he is con- 
cerned, he means to devote his days to that adjustment. 

"Shall I try to forecast the probabilities of the present Republican 
organization? " he asked. " How many times do you have to have them 



172 



A PEOPLE AWAKENED 



forecasted? They were forecasted three years ago, they were forecasted 
six years ago, and were forecasted nine years ago. Has anything hap- 
pened that you have noted? What have other states been doing? All 
sorts of things. What has New Jersey been doing? Nothing. Noth- 
ing in particular. Forecasts? Why, do you know what happens to 
you people? Well, if nothing is going to happen, in God's name what are 
you here for? 

"I have not any respect for a large number of persons, as numerous as 
they are in this hall, who will come together simply to hear a man talk. 
If there is no dynamic power behind that man's back; if he has not got 
anything in his head that will make some one hum; if he has not got cour- 
age that will defy influences that you are afraid of, why then go home. 
There is nothing in it. It is just a lot of words. It is just a gentleman 
who has been accustomed for twenty-odd years to making public 
speeches, doing his stunt; that is all. 

"If you think that he is merely the representative of an organization, 
and that he may or may not know what that organization is going to do, 
why then adjourn the meeting and come when you can get the organiza- 
tion on the stage and ask it what it is going to do. What are you here 
for, anyway? Why, you are here for a very important thing. I dare 
say you wanted to see whether he looked like an honest man, for one 
thing." 

"I believe you are all right," exclaimed a workingman in a front chair, 
as if suddenly aroused to speak his mind as he looked up into the speak- 
er's gleaming eyes. Cheers and applause greeted the telling point, and 
Mr. Wilson said: "You will have to form your own conclusions. All 
I can say is that you will be very foolish if you suppose that, all by him- 
self, he can do anything except make the men who oppose him extremely 
uncomfortable. That I can guarantee." 

Senator Silzer, whose record in the legislature is on the exact lines of 
active work for the people's interests so forcibly presented by Mr. Wil- 
son, made an able and telling address. 

Mr. Wilson was brought up from Princeton in a touring car by County 
Chairman Hoff, of, Mercer, and David W. Flynn, of Princeton, arriving 
at the Mansion House at 5.30, where he was received by State Senator 
George S. Silzer, who has a singular habit of carrying Middlesex County. 
Chairman Thomas H. Hagerty, State Committeemen Oliver H. Kelly 
and Edward Furman, Surrogate P. F. Daly, whose telling speech placing 
Senator Silzer in nomination at the state convention aroused so much en- 



SEES A BETTER DAY 173 

thusiasm; Dr. William E. Ramsey and John N. L. Booraem, Assembly- 
men who have been renominated, and Augustus Streitwolf, a popular 
young lawyer running with them; Millard F. Ross, one of the party 
leaders, and other prominent Democrats of the county. 

After dinner a reception was held in the parlors of the hotel and Mr. 
Wilson was greeted by hundreds for nearly an hour, while on the street 
outside and in front of the quarters of the Young Men's Democratic 
Club a great throng gathered, a band played enlivening airs and fire- 
works added a campaign touch to the occasion. The city was stirred 
greatly and Senator Silzer, who has proved a good measurer of things 
political, declared that Middlesex was good for at least 1000 for Wilson. 
Doctor Rowse said that measure was under the mark. 

Of course, it was rather expected Mr. Wilson, of whom the state has 
heard so much, would be greeted by a great throng in a county which 
gave Fort only thirteen majority three years ago and last year elected 
three Democratic Assemblymen, but the local managers hardly believed 
the demonstration would be so overwhelming and far-reaching. They 
had engaged the opera house, seating 1200, the largest auditorium in the 
city, but early discovered that it was totally inadequate, though 300 
chairs were placed upon the stage. A vaudeville company had been 
routed out to make way for the meeting, and when the doors were opened 
at 7 o'clock there was a rush for seats. In a few minutes the house was 
nearly filled and at 8 o'clock, the time set for the meeting, it was so 
jammed that hundreds were unable to get even near the doors. 

On front rows of orchestra chairs sat a couple of score of lusty-lunged 
Rutgers College students, who gave hips and hurrahs and locomotives 
for Mr. Wilson, for Dr. Austin Scott, the former president; the profess- 
ors and pretty much everybody in and out of sight, as irrepressible 
college lads are wont to do. Prominent among the men on the stage were 
Rev. Dr. William A. Knox, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, who 
was last week chosen moderator of the Synod of New Jersey, and Mon- 
signor O'Grady, of the Catholic Diocese of Trenton. 



XXXI 

PUTS END TO LETHARGY 

SPEAKER AROUSES TO THEIR DUTY MEN TOO PRONE TO LET 
OTHERS DO THEIR THINKING 

Hackensack, Oct. 27, — In three great gatherings of deeply stirred Ber- 
gen County people to-night Woodrow Wilson was given one of the most 
emphatic indorsements of his great campaign. He addressed immense 
audiences at Rutherford at 5 o'clock, at Englewood at 8 o'clock, and in 
Hackensack at 9 o'clock. In each of them he made a telling speech, dif- 
fering materially in all of them, while centralizing his thought upon the 
main feature of his new kind of campaign, the need for action to secure 
good government. 

"It's an astonishing thing," he said, "that the only thing that stands 
between us and good government are the people who do the governing." 
From that point the deduction was plain and straight, that it is necessary 
to elect good men to office to get good government. He said New Jersey 
was lagging behind her sister states in the struggle. "Not behind Penn- 
sylvania," he added, humorously. 

He ascribed a good deal of the lethargy heretofore prevalent to the 
habit of men thinking in New York, where their business is, and voting 
in New Jersey, where their homes are, and in this strong commuter 
county, with its score or more of rich towns on the railroads out of New 
York, his sentiments and his proposed remedies for intolerant conditions 
were applauded to the echo. 

Bergen County usually is Republican on election day by from 800 to 
1500, and the state managers have been counting upon it to present 
Banking Commissioner Lewis with the usual majority, but if the recep- 
tions accorded Mr. Wilson and the hearty approval of his strong prin- 
ciples by audiences in which sat hundreds of Republicans count for any- 
thing, the county is sure to give a substantial Democratic majority. 
Old party adherents, like former Senator Henry D. Winton, the veteran 
editor of this city, say they never saw such crowds at political meetings. 

174 



PUTS END TO LETHARGY 175 

At Rutherford 900 persons jammed the town hall, at Englewood more 
than 1200 assembled in the Lyceum, and in this city as many more 
squeezed into the armory, while in all three places scores were unable to 
get in. 

When Mr. Lewis was in the county last week he drew not more than 
one fourth the number of listeners and the county Republican managers 
are in a panic, and the impressiveness of Mr. Wilson's sterling and strong 
personality and vigorous campaign have made most of the commuters of 
this section turn out to see him in unprecedented numbers. Conditions 
seem to be ripe for a sensational political turnover next month. 

In his Rutherford address Mr. Wilson frequently was interrupted by 
applause when he made this pointed allusion to the spirit of indepen- 
dence in politics, which has a strong grip on this coimty: 

"I know, or I think I know, what your real political sympathies are. 
I know that probably a large majority of you call yourselves Republicans, 
but do you realize that it is no longer a descriptive term. What kind of 
Republicans are you? 

"There are many breeds of Republicans nowadays; there are all sorts 
and varieties. It used to be perfectly possible to describe with com- 
prehensive accuracy a Republican by the traditional principles of his 
party, but there are Republicans who interpret those principles now in 
terms of one set of pohtics, and other Republicans who interpret them 
in terms of another set of policies, and there are all varieties. For exam- 
ple, even the word 'insurgent' does not describe anybody, because there 
is one kind of insurgent in California, there is another kind in Kansas, 
there is another kind in New Hampshire, there, apparently, is still an- 
other kind in Maine. And, therefore, when you speak of yourself as a 
Republican, I have to ask that you go into particulars and state what 
kind of a Republican you are, holding what purposes, what ideals of 
government, what opinions with regard to the present conduct of the 
Government, both in this state and in the nation. 

"I think I can make a very fair guess as to what kind of Republicans 
most of you are. I think it is a fair guess to say that you are progressive 
Republicans, and I don't want you to be so vain as to suppose that all the 
progressives are in the Republican party. Frankly, gentlemen, what we 
are tr>'ing to do in this campaign, so far as I understand it, is to form a 
league of progressives to get something out of the government of New 
Jersey, without stopping to think what our party labels are, to pay our- 
selves the compliment of not going by the label, but going by the contents. 



176 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"Now, what is a progressive? I understand a progressive to be a man 
who insists upon bringing about all the adjustments of interests which 
have not been brought about and also insists upon returning to the prim- 
itive, righteous, pure and reasonable processes of popular government. 
In other words, I understand a progressive is a man who wishes certain 
reforms of our economic policy, together with certain radical reforms of 
our political methods, because you can't get the policy without the 
methods. 

"Is the Democratic party progressive? It is astonishing how long it 
takes to make some people realize that certain things have been said. A 
gentleman prominent in the politics of this day addressed a letter to me 
recently, in which he asked my opinion about things, upon every one 
of which I had expressed my opinion in public. I was not in the least in- 
clined to avoid the small trouble of collecting my opinions and putting 
them in one letter for him, but that is all that I did. Now I want also 
to remark that all of those opinions are in the Democratic platform, and 
that not two thirds of them are in the Republican platform. You have 
to distinguish when you are talking about Republican platforms, because 
the platform of the party is one thing and the platform of the candidate 
is another. The candidate has expanded his platform speech by speech 
until it has very extensive dimensions; but he hasn't carried the platform 
of the party with him." 

Mr. Wilson explained what it was that the progressive element of all 
parties was after, which, summed up, was efficiency in government, 
purity in politics and that fundamental thing that underlies all govern- 
ment — justice. In his Englewood address the candidate dwelt at some 
length upon the great movement speeding through the country to secure 
better and freer independent men for important offices of govern- 
ment. 

"The evidence is," said he, "that here, there, in every portion of the 
country, the Democratic party has been putting up new men as its candi- 
dates, men not hitherto connected with the active conduct of party or- 
ganizations at all, men who are, so to say, drawn from that outside body 
of opinion which is not labelled with party designation and which has 
swung to the modern movements of purposes. The Republican party 
organization has done this to a very much less degree. If you will take 
the nominations made for the governorship throughout the country you 
will find the Republican nominees are usually men, no matter how ad- 



PUTS END TO LETHARGY 177 

mirable their character, who have been connected with the processes of 
party organization. 

"What does it mean that the Democratic party in New Jersey has 
chosen an independent candidate, if it does not mean that the Democratic 
party in New Jersey sees that a new day has come, and that the old game 
is up? What does it mean that the Republican organization has nomi- 
nated one of their own number, an admirable man, but a man trained in 
their own processes and of their own number, to be the Governor of the 
state, except that they expect to continue the old game?" 

The day was one more astonishment for the candidate, who has had 
some chance to become accustomed to astonishments, but this one was 
different from all the others. He arrived at the Hudson Terminal at 
4 o'clock and there, in the busy underground city of the stupendous 
modern enterprise, he ran plump into fully 100 Bergen County men, 
mostly Democrats, but many Republicans, ready to conduct him to the 
three points where he was to speak. 

Among those in the big Reception Committee, the largest and most in- 
terested one Mr. Wilson yet has encountered, were Walker W. Vick, 
one of the Rutherford City Committee; County Chairman Peter W. 
Stagg, Mayor J. A. C. Johnson, candidate for Senator and Mayor of 
Englewood; G. R. Alyea and William R. Hinners, candidates for As- 
sembly ; Charles F. Thompson, candidate for County Clerk, and Robert 
A. Sibbald, candidate for Register of Deeds, the latter the man who has 
agreed to give up the job if elected to fill it because he is sure that it is 
not needed for the county. 

A special tunnel train carried the candidate and the big Reception 
Committee under the Hudson and up to the Erie station, where a special 
car awaited to take them to Rutherford, the first stop in the county, and 
Mr. Wilson was for once a commuter with a fine chance of feeling what it 
means to that great army of Jerseymen to have a sudden boost in their 
railroad fares, with no chance for a shot at anybody to get back. 
Rutherford was reached on schedule time, 5 o'clock, and the party 
marched up the street from the station back of a fife and drum corps, 
with little sprinkles of rain falling, which failed to feaze the candidate. 

In the Town Hall, prettily decorated for the occasion, were assembled 
a crowd which, of course, filled it, when Mr. Wilson arrived. In the 
audience were many women, who displayed their intense interest in the 
topics discussed by the candidate, who drew their warm approval from 
the start. His address was directed principally to the local conditions 



178 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

in which commuters were interested, especially the program to obtain a 
utilities commission empowered to regulate and fix rates. 

When on that point he was calm, conciliating and practical. He took 
the ground that it would be necessary to find upon what basis the utility 
corporations made the rates, and to closely and honestly investigate the 
business of these corporations in order to determine whether their charges 
were just or not. All of the trouble, he explained, was that most of the 
people here do their thinking in New York and then vote in New Jersey. 

"Nothing is so disastrous to a free government," he said, "as men 
voting from mere habit, and the mission of the present campaign is, or 
as I conceive it, the redemption of men from this habit. I know where 
your real sympathies are. I realize that most of you are Republicans, 
but do you know what it means to be a Republican in these days? 
There are many breeds of Republicans." 

Congressman William Hughes preceded Mr. Wilson in a five-minute 
speech, in which he captured the hearts of the people. Dr. S. E. Arm- 
strong presided over the meeting and presented Mr. Wilson in a happy 
speech. "The Democrats of this town," he said, "have felt very lonely 
on occasions like this, but we are not lonely any longer with a candidate 
for Governor like this great man." 

From Rutherford Mr. Wilson was taken by automobile up to Engle- 
wood, another of the centres of the commuter influence, where dinner 
was served. Mr. Wilson was greeted by a tremendous audience, in 
which were many well-dressed women. 



XXXII 
CALLS FOR OLD TIMES 

ASKS VOTERS TO RESTORE DAYS WHEN PEOPLE SERVED HUMAN- 
ITY, NOT INTERESTS 

Elizabeth, Oct. 28. — In the home of United States Senator "Jawn" 
Kean, ally of Aldrich, Cannon and the other special interest servers, 
Woodrow Wilson to-night dealt sledge-hammer blows at the old political 
system and read the funeral service of the political boss. In two power- 
ful, forceful and enlightening addresses before audiences which jammed 
the two meeting halls he stirred within the breasts of Union County 
voters a thrill of pride in country and a new desire to get good govern- 
ment. In his first and greatest speech Mr. Wilson drew this deduction 
from the change in conditions, a sentiment that evoked a great cheer: 

"Is it not a heartening prospect? Is it not like covering some of the 
breadth of that age in which America became a nation, when men thought 
not only in the terms of neighborhoods and trades and occupations, but 
that of the leadership of the world? What was in the writings of the 
men that founded America to serve the selfish interests of America? Do 
you find that in their writings? 

" No, to serve the cause of humanity, to bring liberty to mankind, they 
set up their standards here in America as a beacon of encouragement to 
all the nations of the world, and men came thronging to these shores 
with a hope that never existed before, with a confidence they never 
dared feel before, and found here for generations together a haven of 
peace, of opportunity, of equality. God send that in the complicated 
state of modern affairs we may recover the standards and recover the 
achievements of that heroic age." 

It generally was agreed that Mr. Wilson, despite the weariness that 
must have followed his trying ordeal of last night, when he made three 
speeches in Bergen County, made one of the best speeches of his whole 

179 



I So A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

campaign. Certainly the immense crowd that pressed into Proctor's 
Theatre and overran even the stairways and blocked the entrances 
showed by voice and foot and hand its complete and hearty approval of 
his sentiments, so forcibly presented at times as to carry men and women 
off their feet, though presented in the calm, even notes so characteristic of 
the man. 

He was in the midst of a declaration that the Republicans had made 
little or no effort to change their policies or their leaders, but that the 
Democrats had courageously tried to do both in order to assure good 
government, when a man in the audience cried with spontaneous energy, 
"Three cheers for our leader." 

The effect was electrical. The 2000 persons imbibed the spirit of it 
all. There was a great shout, cheers, stamping of feet, and the assem- 
blage arose to cheer the leader again when he eloquently and effectively 
unfolded the thought that a great change had come over the people of 
America; that the demand for change and reform had become insistent 
in the hearts of many Americans, saying: "The question for you to 
answer is, where do you see the road open for reform? " 

The big audience was quick to grasp his meaning and shouted back 
its answer in a volume of sound like the roar of a cyclone. In his main 
speech Mr. Wilson made pointed allusion to the great change that has 
come upon the country. 

"I wonder if you realize how great a change has taken place in Amer- 
ican poHtics since the adjournment of Congress," said he. "It is very 
diflScult to throw our minds back to the state of affairs which existed 
before the last Congress of the United States adjourned. At that 
time the politics of the country and the policy of the country were in 
the control of a small group of men at one end of the Capitol, combined 
in action and purpose with a small group of men at the other end of 
the Capitol. 

"It was possible to name a little handful of Senators who were the 
masters of the Senate and a little handful of Representatives clustered 
about the Speaker of the House w^ho were masters of the House. The 
President of the United States, after adjournment of Congress, admitted 
in public speech that it was impossible for him to guide the policy of his 
party without the consent and the cooperation, not of the rest of the 
party, but of this little group of men, 

"He said that in order to get the policies which he thought absolutely 
necessary through this House it was necessary to give these men what 




KEPH1.>1.N I A 



CALLS FOR OLD TIMES i8i 

they wanted in the matter of the tariff. And what did they want? 
Did they want to promote the interests of the country? Did the Pres- 
ident himself intimate that they wished to promote the interests of the 
country? He intimated nothing of the kind, for he knew that the coun- 
try was aware that these gentlemen were arranging a tarilT policy for 
the country with regard to certain groups of men in the manufacturing 
and commercial world. 

*' You have been reading, no doubt, in the magazines and newspapers 
since the Payne-Aldrich Tariff bill was passed how it has been disclosed 
that most of the clauses they contain are what have been called in bitter 
jest a 'joker,' the meaning of which has not been disclosed to the houses 
themselves, and which altered the tariff and adjusted it in a way in 
which the interests would never dare to urge their case in public, the way 
they wanted it adjusted. Upon the floor of the Senate Senators were 
unable to get explanations from the chairman of the Finance Committee, 
Mr. Aldrich, of Rhode Island, concerning some of the most important 
features of the bill, and submitted to his refusal to give them information. 

"That was only a very short time ago. Have you realized how short a 
time ago? Now it is not only ancient history, but it is history impossible 
of repetition. These gentlemen have, at least one of them has, retired 
or announced his retirement from public life. He was able to see the 
signs of the times, and knew it was more graceful to retire when you may 
than when you must. A gentleman at the other end of the Capitol, 
the indomitable Speaker of the last House of Representatives, has been 
showing a spirit which I must say, as a sportsman, I admire. He has 
not admitted his defeat, and he has defied his enemies, and he has been 
deserted by his friends. If I had stood by Mr. Cannon in the fight he 
made against the House of Representatives last spring I would not have 
deserted him this autumn. 

"Either he was right or he was wrong. If he was right, the men who 
stood by ought to stand by him now, and ought not to come, when they 
feel the wind of public opinion blowing hot against him, and say that 
under no circumstances would they vote for Mr. Cannon for Speaker. I 
want to say very frankly that I do not understand, and I have contempt 
for that kind of politics. But you know what it means. It means that 
Cannonism in these few months has become impossible. 

" See how the plot of the play has changed. These men have had their 
brief time upon the stage and the play has read, 'Exit Aldrich, Exit 
Cannon.' Why have they withdrawn? They have withdrawn because, 
as I have just said, the plot of the play demands it. There is no place 



i82 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

for them any longer in our politics. The public opinion of this country 
has awakened, and it is impossible that these men should play the part 
again that they have played in the past. I do not know anything duller 
than the politics of this country has been in recent years, and I do not 
know anything more interesting than the politics of this country right 
now. 

"It is infinitely dull to go like driven cattle to the polls and pretend 
that you are exercising the sovereign right of ballot, to give to men a 
chance to do something that they never tell us about, and that we can- 
not understand. That is a beautiful exercise of independence on the 
part of self-governing people, when our representatives are told in unmis- 
takable terms that what they are voting for is the business of private 
arrangement, which is none of their business. Now I have talked with 
gentlemen, with my fellow-citizens, about this sort of thing; they have 
shrugged their shoulders and said that the legislative business chiefly 
afifects the large money interests, and you cannot blame them for seeing 
that they are represented in our legislature. You cannot blame them for 
seeing that they are represented. 

"Are these the men that we go through the motions of electing? 
They are the representatives of private interests, a great many of them, 
and not of the public. But something has happened during the summer. 
I did not notice an)^hing particular or unusual about the weather last 
summer, but this autumn looks like another age in the politics of Amer- 
ica. Look at the personnel of the play as changed. Look at the extra- 
ordinary number of new men or made-over men that have come to the 
front. Now, I do not want to display any lack of modesty as a Demo- 
crat, and I want to call your attention to the fact that most of the new 
men have appeared on the Democratic side, and that most of the prom- 
inent men in the Republican ranks are made over." 

Speaking of the hopelessness of expecting any change from the Re- 
publican organization, Mr. Wilson said: "They held a convention on 
the twentieth day of September in the city of Trenton, at which stren- 
uous efforts were made to apprise them of the change of climate. They 
were urged to put into the platform and to express in their nominations 
the new spirit of the Republican party. They refused to do so, but 
heaped insult and opprobrium upon those who suggested it, and since 
that nomination their chief spokesman has been the spokesman for the 
unreorganized Republican party. 

"For I want to say that the Republican party in most parts of this 
country has renewed itself as the Democratic party has renewed itself, 




GEN. DENNIS F. COLLINS, TREASURER STATE COMMITTEE 



CALLS FOR OLD TIMES 183 

except in New Jersey. There are no symptoms upon the surface of 
these changes I have been speaking of, so far as the organized Repub- 
lican party in this state is concerned. The symptoms are all on the 
Democratic side." 

Proceeding to show in what this process is bound to result, he said: 
" Now what does this all mean? It means the end of the boss system. 
By the boss system I don't mean merely the system of organized politics, 
for parties, in order Ito be cooperative, must be organized, and we must 
not heap contempt upon the men who do the hard work in maintaining 
that organization. The boss system means that the boss is used for 
private ends. That is the heart of the boss system. The boss system 
does not mean the organization, but that the organization determines 
the policies, not from the point of view of the public, but from the point 
of view of certain private interests. 

"Why is it that it is galling to a member of the legislature to find that 
the organization to which he belongs in his home county has this kind of 
a grip upon him? It is because that he is told that he must vote for a 
particular bill. He had not been told anything about that bill when he 
was elected; he supposed he was elected as a representative of the people, 
but it seems not. The bosses have let him know that he will sacrifice 
their friendship, that he will no longer enjoy their political contributions 
if he does not vote for them. There is where the pinch comes, not be- 
cause it is politics at all, but because it is private business. That is the 
boss system. 

"That kind of so-called politics has been smoked out and we are so hot 
on the trail of it that capture of it is instantaneously probable. It is 
not seen in the open, it is seen only when it is in its burrow, and when 
politics consists of burrows and underground passages and places of 
concealment, then it is neither interesting nor profitable. It is both 
interesting and profitable when it is brought out into the open, and be- 
comes a matter of common knowledge and common discussion." 

Former Mayor Frank S. Katzenbach, of Trenton, was given an ovation 
when presented as the next speaker, and he made a stirring speech, flay- 
ing the Republican record. As soon as he had finished his first address, 
amid a thunder of applause, Mr. Wilson, carefully bundled into warm 
wraps, for the night air was keen, was whirled across the city to the great 
industrial section, Elizabethport, where a throng of toilers had assem- 
bled in St. Patrick's Parish Hall. 

Colonel Alexander Bacon, of Brooklyn, was speaking, but some one 



i84 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

caught sight of Mr. Wilson and set up a shout which made further effort 
on the Colonel's part impossible. Mr. Wilson spoke strongly, search- 
ingly upon the capital and labor problems, presenting the case in such 
plain, succinct prose and so forcibly that storms of applause halted him 
every few minutes. His suggestion to the workingmen was that they 
had obtained justice only through cooperation and organization, and, 
while capital was absolutely necessary to the interest and welfare of the 
nation, capital needs labor, which is its very breath and essence. 

"War between capital and labor!" he exclaimed. "Each tr3dng to 
destroy the very existence of the other! How ridiculous, and yet the 
reason in this war is that capital studies only the interests of capital; 
and labor, as a natural result, has been forced to study the interests of 
labor. We can't get along in a free country by cutting each other's 
throats. The American workingman does not want any advantage; 
he wants a fair show, that's all." 

The applause that sentiment evoked showed how heartily it was ap- 
proved. Mr. Wilson then elaborated the view to show the relations be- 
tween employer and employe, especially in the case of giant corporations, 
and this brought him to the discussion of a square employers' liability 
act, a subject in which much interest was displayed, and he was wildly 
cheered. 

Arriving from Princeton at 4.45 o'clock Mr. Wilson instantly was made 
to feel that he has a strong grip upon the voters of Union, for on the 
Pennsylvania platform as the train pulled in were more than fifty 
prominent men, and not all Democrats. General Dennis F. Collins, the 
big and jolly State Committeeman and brigade commander of the 
National Guard, led the party, which also included William E. Tuttle, 
candidate for Congress; Albert A, Stein, candidate for Mayor; Edward 
Nugent and others. The party was whirled quickly to the Elks' hand- 
some club-house, where for more than an hour Mr. Wilson stood in the 
spacious parlor greeting men who came from all sections of the 
county to give him a word of encouragement and to thank him for the 
splendid battle he is fighting. 

"You're batting them out good," said former City Clerk James J. 
Manning, who knows everybody. 

"How do you like my batting average?" queried Mr. Wilson, laughing. 

"It's just great and the pennant is in sight," was Manning's sally, 
the wit of which the candidate greatly enjoyed. 



CALLS FOR OLD TIMES 1S5 

General Collins said he would be on hand to open the Sea Girt camp 
for the new commander-in-chief of the National Guard next summer. 
He was asked if Mr. Wilson could ride a horse, an accomplishment that 
has given several Governors a lot of trouble. 

"I asked him that," replied the General, "and he said: 'Did you ever 
see a Virginian who couldn't ride?' He's all right." 

It was the unanimous verdict of all those who came that the candi- 
date is all right, and James E. Martine, the "farmer orator," who is 
highly honored in his home county, was in a state of bewildering delight, 
for it was Martine who early last spring really launched the Wilson boom 
at a dinner at the Democratic Club, at which Mr. Wilson made an ef- 
fective and compelling address on "Democratic Opportunity." 

At the dinner, which followed the reception, were gathered fully 100 
leading and active Democrats, all aroused to a plane of enthusiasm un- 
precedented in the county. The three candidates for Assembly, Calvin 
E. Brodhead, Hugh McLaughlin and Abram P. Morris, who are said to 
have an excellent show of election, despite Union's usual Republican 
majority, were in the party. L. T. Russell, a former Mississippi and 
Oklahoma editor, now proprietor of the Daily Times, is sure Mr. Wilson 
will carry the county by a clean majority. 



xxxin 

PLEADS FOR OPEN DOOR 

WANTS THE PEOPLE BROUGHT INTO CLOSE CONTACT WITH THEIR 
OWN GOVERNMENT 

Hoboken, Oct. 29. — In a return visit to Democratic Hudson County 
to-night Woodrow Wilson found himself in the midst of a fresh demon- 
stration of his following by the common people. All unexpectedly he 
was called upon to address three meetings, one at West Hoboken, 
one at West New York and a third here, every one of them attended 
by immense numbers of people, and all showing the utmost interest in 
the speaker's arguments and line of reasoning. It was a trying ordeal 
for the candidate, but he bore up well under it and displayed in all his 
addresses the same great strength and courage and valor. 

Mr. Wilson was met at the University Club, New York, by former 
State Comptroller William C. Heppenheimer, City Chairman GriflSn 
and a committee of local Democrats, who brought him across to New 
Jersey in an automobile, arri\dng at St. Michael's Hall, West Hoboken, 
for the first meeting, to the accompaniment of music of several bands, 
fireworks, and much cheering. 

He spoke there half an hour, and then was started over to St. Joseph's 
Hall, West New York, where there was a brilliant electrical illumination, 
with more fireworks. After a twenty-minute address there he was 
brought to the main meeting, in St. Mary's Hall, in this city, where a 
great and demonstrative crowd had gathered, and his appearance was 
the signal for a mighty cheer, the waving of flags and hats, and, despite 
the lateness of the hour, the big crowd evinced an interest that was 
wonderful to see. 

"There is a very remarkable thing in this campaign," said Mr. Wilson. 
"I have been struck by nothing so much in the audiences that I have 
faced as the evident sincerity. This is no ordinary campaign — it is 
evident the people have come out in order to do something, to accom- 



PLEADS FOR OPEN DOOR 187 

plish something. I don't wonder you feel as you do. We have drifted 
very far away from a Government by the people. We have a great many 
things between us and the Government that belongs to us. 

"I think I can tell you what I mean by that statement. You know 
that when a bill is introduced in the legislature, whether it be the leg- 
islature of New Jersey or the legislature of New York, or the Congress at 
Washington, the first thing that happens to that bill is that it goes to a 
committee. That committee is appointed by the Speaker, who is chiefly 
connected with a great political organization, which great political or- 
ganization is connected with certain business interests, and then, when 
the bill comes to be considered, it is generally considered by the com- 
mittee and not by the legislature. Are you admitted? Is the public 
admitted to the deliberations of the committee? Not at all. 

"These dehberations are private in most instances. Of course, the 
committee holds hearings and allows persons who are interested in the 
subject matter of the legislation to come and be heard, either in person or 
by attorney, but those are public hearings. The deliberations of the 
committee are another matter. They are private, and most of the things 
that happen to bills happen in ways that the public cannot find out. 
Most of the bills that are intended for public interest are smothered in 
committees, and it requires an investigation which you cannot conduct 
to find out why they are smothered. 

"Something is between you and legislation, when you come to de- 
bate upon the floor — either of the National Legislature or the legis- 
lature of the state. You know what has recently happened in Washing- 
ton; what we call Cannonism is the control of legislation by the Speaker. 
One man who appoints all the committees, dictates to these committees 
what they shall do with the bills and won't allow anybody to get on the 
floor to oppose them who has not had a previous understanding that he 
will be recognized, so that you can get up and shout your throat out at 
'Mr. Speaker' and you won't be seen, although you are under the nose of 
the Speaker, shaking your finger at him in the space right before his 
desk. 

"He does not see you; he does not hear you; but he recognizes some- 
body over there in the distance who has had a previous understanding 
with him that he would be recognized. If you want any time for debate 
you have to go and dicker with the chairman of the committee and get 
him to share his time with you and, as if it were his time and not the time 
of the people, in order that he may recognize your right of debate. It 
is all a game, tied up in private understanding. 



i8S A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"Now, these understandings may be perfectly honorable, they may be 
intended for the public good, but my point is that they are private and 
not public, and that the debates on the floor of Congress, and, for most 
part, debates on the floor of the state legislature, do not amount to 
anything and are not worth reading. 

"A Governor who wants to know what is going on behind all the closed 
doors has opportunities to find out and will greatly relish talking about 
it aloud. There are a good many men on the Democratic ticket with 
me in the several counties of this state, men who have been and who I 
hope will be in the legislature of this state, who are just as dead in ear- 
nest about letting the people of this Commonwealth have a grip upon 
this legislature as anybody else. Some of them can talk most elo- 
quently. I don't have to talk for them; I have come here to let you see 
what kind of a chap I am." 

"Three cheers for Doctor Wilson!" yelled a man in the audience, and 
the crowd let loose wdth startling vim. 

"Now you know a very interesting thing has happened. During the 
latter part of the month of November there's going to meet in Frankfort, 
Ky., a body of Governors, all the Governors in the United States. You 
know they were twice heard. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft called them 
together. Now they have formed an association of their own and are 
not going to wait for the President to call them together again. 
They have a chairman, a secretary and a permanent organization, 
and they are going to hold annual meetings. What for? To compare 
notes, to see how their several commonwealths cooperate in respect 
to those matters about which the state legislatures are most in- 
terested. Don't you see how interesting that is? What are they going 
to do? 

"Are they going to go home and twiddle their thumbs? Aren't they 
going home with opinions in their heads? Aren't they going home with 
ambitions to serve a great people, with a consciousness of what immense 
issues are involved, and with the desire in their hearts to submit wise 
counsel, gathered from such sources? 

"There is, if the Governors of these states are wise enough to exercise 
it, a great leadership in store for them of the most legitimate sort, not 
given them by the law, but given them in their several commonwealths 
as they are about to control public opinion. That is what I call bringing 
the people back to their Government, giving them a spokesman, giving 
them direct contact with the things that are going on generally. That is 
what I call government by public opinion, which is what our arrange- 



PLEADS FOR OPEN DOOR 189 

ments are for. Let that thing get once started and you will find that 
there are no locks on committee doors; you will find that everything 
will slowly creep out into the open. 

"We want the contact of public affairs with public opinion. That is 
what we are after in this state, and that is what we are going to get. 
We are going to get it, no matter what happens, because it does not de- 
pend even on the next 8th day of November. This tide is rolling so 
that nobody can get out of its way. There is no dam that can stop it; 
there is no subterfuge that can escape it. This thing is going to rise and 
overwhelm everything that is antagonistic." 

At the St. Mary's Hall meeting, previous to the arrival of Mr. Wilson, 
several speakers held the attention of the great audience. Assembly- 
man Joseph P. Tumulty made a strong and direct appeal to the voters 
to stand by Wilson as a man of the highest character and integrity, whom 
the party bosses cannot control, but who will be his own master when he 
takes the executive chair in January. Mr. Tumulty explained why 
Vivian M. Lewis should not be supported, the chief reason being that, 
while a member of the Assembly from Passaic County, he always was 
arrayed on the side of the special interests as against the people's interests, 
and always has been in the grip of the party bosses. 

Mr. Tumulty presented the legislative records to show that he was 
talking by the book and he was cheered lustily. For the first time since 
the campaign opened Mayor H. Otto Wittpenn, of Jersey City, appeared 
on the platform and he was making a vigorous address when the candi- 
date and his escort appeared. It was all off then, for the crowd arose 
and broke into a perfect storm as he was made the point of a flying wedge 
to force a way up a side aisle. At the close of the meeting, terminating 
Mr. Wilson's fifth week of campaigning, he was hustled over to Jersey 
City to get a train for his Princeton home. 



XXXIV 

SCORES WITH WORKERS 

PRINCETON MAN PRESSES LIABILITY LAW ISSUE BEFORE CHEERING 
THOUSANDS 

Jersey City, Oct. 31. — The paths of Woodrow Wilson and Vivian M. 
Lewis, rival candidates for Governor, converged in this city to-night and 
rival rockets proclaimed their coming. If open marks of approval count 
for anything, if the popular acclaim is a sign post, Wilson is on the sure 
road to a great triumph. The crowds were his and the enthusiasm was 
on his side. Moreover, while Candidate Lewis was discussing what the 
G. O. P. had achieved for the workingman in the past, only two blocks 
up the street his opponent was driving home some of the facts relating 
to the amount of legislation which had tended toward the corporation 
employer and how little toward the corporation employe. 

"Has the present Republican organization shown any desire to legis- 
late for the common interest, including the workingman? " asked Mr. Wil- 
son. "If they have, I have not seen any evidence of it on the statute 
books in the past ten years." Later, discussing the need for an effec- 
tive employers' liability law, which he regards as one of the great needs 
of the day for the working people, Mr. Wilson said: 

" Did you know that we have an employers' liability law on the books? 
We have one so ingeniously drawn that no lawyer can i|\terpret it. Some- 
body may be able to work it, but they haven't found the spring yet. 
Perhaps there's something wrong with the punctuation." 

Both the candidates started their night addresses in Bayonne, the 
centre of the great Standard Oil Trust's refining and shipping plant, and, 
while Wilson was piloted through the industry by Colonel Charles W. 
Fuller, counsel for the Standard, during the afternoon, shaking hands 
with the army of grim workmen, he got the people at the meeting and he 
devoted practically all of his address to the labor question, upon which 

190 



SCORES WITH WORKERS 191 

he elaborated upon a wider and much more comprehensive scale than at 
any time during the campaign. 

That Mr. Wilson's position upon this question, upon which the Repub- 
lican managers have endeavored to break him, is strong with the 
workingmen themselves was shown over and over again by outbursts 
of cheers and applause which frequently followed his presentation of 
the case in a manner at once direct and efifective. 

It was Mr. Wilson's tliird visit to Hudson since his campaign opened, 
and his reception by the voters in Bayonne and in this city, where two 
immense meetings were held, was tremendously enthusiastic. He was 
met at Newark by State Chairman Nugent and taken direct to the hall 
of the Democratic Club at Bayonne, arriving a few minutes after eight, 
while F. X. O'Brien, candidate for Assembly, opened the meeting with a 
strong, effective speech. 

So dense was the crowd in the hall that a flying wedge had to be formed 
to rush the candidate through. His appearance was the signal for one 
of those great demonstrations of delight and enthusiasm which have 
become so familiar to Mr. Wilson in the past five weeks. It was a cyclone. 
There has been for some little while a distressing factional disturbance 
among the live Democrats of Bayonne, but it was not visible in the 
outpouring of voters that made the welkin ring for Mr. Wilson. 

One of the first men to grip his hand as he stepped upon the platform 
was Rev. Peter Reilly, pastor of St. Henry's Roman Catholic Church, 
and City Chairman James Cronin started the meeting going. When the 
storm of cheers became calm Mr. Wilson launched at once upon the sub- 
ject of legislation as related to the corporation and the employe. 

"I want to speak to this crowd of men to-night on the subject of 
labor, not because my views have been misrepresented, because I know 
workingmen enough to know that they are not going to be misled by 
things of that sort. I know their independence, and I know that they 
are not going to be deceived by gross and wilful misrepresentation; but 
I want to speak of labor because I believe I am going to be elected Gov- 
ernor of New Jersey and because I want you men to understand how I 
look at the subject of labor, so that when we come to deal with this com- 
phcated and important question in later months we may know how we 
are dealing with one another. 

"Now, there is only one way in which to look at the question of labor: 
It isn't fair to look at labor separately, as if laboring men did not form 
a part and the fundamental part of our society. It isn't fair to look at 



192 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

capital separately, as if capitalists formed a separate group. Separate 
labor from capital and capital is helpless and labor is helpless. 

"Now you have got to take a very broad view when you discuss ques- 
tions on the basis of the public interest. The public, it goes without say- 
ing, is composed of all of us, not of some part of us. The public is that 
great body of persons, young and old, powerful men and helpless women 
and little children, upon whom all our relations in life depend. Men 
cannot be happy, men cannot be successful when they are seeking self- 
ish advantage, one over another. They can be happy and successful 
only when they are trying to do something which is for everybody's 
good. 

"Now, why is it that we have a labor question at all? It is for the 
simple and the very sufi&cient reason that the laboring men and the em- 
ployer are not intimate associates now, as they used to be in the age now 
so far past that we have forgotten it. Most of our laws were formed in 
the times when the employer and the employe knew each other's char- 
acters, were associated with each other, dealt with each other as man with 
man. You know that that is no longer the case. You in most instances 
are serving great corporations. You not only do not come into personal 
contact with the men who have the supreme command in those cor- 
porations, but it would be out of the question for you to do it. 

"Our modern corporations employ thousands, and in some instances 
hundreds of thousands of men. The only persons that you see or deal 
with are local superintendents or local representatives of a great big 
association, which is not like anything that the workingmen in the time 
that our laws were framed knew anything about. A little group of work- 
ingmen, seeing their employer every day, dealing with him in a personal 
way, is one thing, and the modern body of labor engaged as employes of 
the huge enterprises that spread all over a country, dealing with men 
whom they never saw and whom they can form no conception of, is 
another thing. 

" Suppose you go back in your fancy dealing with individual employers, 
for instance, but you are not dealing with the individual employer, and, 
therefore, the law is justified in going into factories, and obliging those 
who are managing them to conduct them in a proper way by insisting 
upon proper ventilation and proper conditions for doing the work of the 
factory. 

"What are we doing? Large artificial corporations are emplojdng 
large numbers of men upon whose health and strength and morality 
depends the health and strength and morality of the community itself. 



SCORES WITH WORKERS 193 

Who make up the community anyhow? Nine tenths of every com- 
mimity is made up of men who do the work. 

"Most employers that have not been laborers are not worth their salt, 
inyhow. It is merely a question of which part of the work you are do- 
ing. If you have proved capable in the part of the work you have been 
loing and have become the boss of a gang, or a superintendent, that 
means that your intelligence has lifted you to another place, in which 
there is still work. 

"The labor question is a question of society, of how many are going to 
tackle the tasks and work of the world, and how they are going to be re- 
lated to it; and as nine tenths of the men of the world are workingmen 
that society has to protect, it has to protect this nine tenths, to see that 
its health does not suffer, to see that its morals are protected. 

■ If you oblige the laboring man to deal with these sections of society 
I have called corporations, let him deal with one man at a time. But 
when a man is dealing with an association that consists of a thousand 
men, the characters of which he cannot get at because they may live in 
distant cities, their work spread all over the United States and their 
offices in another section, that is not a possible proposition; therefore, 
the right of the laboring men to organize is not only a right, but in some 
sense it is a necessity. I have never found any man who was jealous in 
regard to the interests of the laboring man, murh less jealous of his 
forming organizations whenever he pleased, for any legitimate purpose. 
The legitimate purpose of organization is to relieve the individual from 
what I may call his fewness — that is to say, there are so few of him and 
so many of the rest. 

Now, inasmuch as the corporation is chargeable with the proper 
protection of the workingman, what are his rights are obviously every- 
body's rights, the righc to have a comfortable and safe place in which to 
Vv^ork, to have suitable tools with which to work, to have reasonable regu- 
lations between himself and his employer, and the right to have reason- 
able compensation and reasonable hours of work. All of those things 
have the sympathy of every man who thinks in terms of the whole 
body, instead of thinking selfishly and all for himself. Nobody, no wise 
and just man, is jealous of the proper use of organization. But the 
interesting thing is that organization cannot accomplish what society as 
a whole can accomplish through legislation." 

So many people had been unable to squeeze into the jammed hall that 
it was decided to hold an outdoor meeting, and while Mr. Wilson was 



194 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

talking Congressman Eugene Kinkead, who is immensely popular in 
this district and who is to be reelected, was addressing fully looo people 
from the high steps of the building, and two blocks away, at the home of 
the Bayonne Republican Club, a hall by no means crowded gave Candi- 
date Lewis scant inspiration. 

As soon as he had fin'shed his speech within, Mr. Wilson was escortea 
through the jam in the hall, and upon his appearance at the doorway the 
outside crowd cut Kinkead short with a cry for Wilson, and, standing in 
the dense pack of humanity, he was forced to make a few more remarks 
to satisfy the clamor. 

The candidate was then taken in a limousine car across the lower part' 
of the city and, escorted by a motorcycle "cop," dashed away to St. 
John's Hall in the Tenth ward, this city, where another jam of voters 
awaited his coming. It was another gathering composed largely of 
work people, and Mr. Wilson again spoke upon the labor question as he 
views it and again he scored, and the audience, quick of comprehension, 
showed its approval in a roar of applause. 

"It is for you to choose which set of leaders you will trust," he said 
impressively in a summing up of how little Republican legislatures 
had done. 

"You're the man for us," shouted an enthusiast, whose cry was in- 
stantly echoed in a furious shout and cheer. 

He likened the pohtical organization to a corporation and declared 
that the voters, as stockholders, have a right to know what is going on 
within. "The direct primary," he said, "is the best way to get stock 
to enable the people to get at the corporation and assist in managing it 
whether they are invited or not." 

He said an effective Corrupt Practices act was one of the best means of 
removing the forces which operate against the common interests. "We 
are not working for classes," he said, impressively, as he concluded a 
strong plea for legislation devised to meet the demands of employer and 
employe, "but for the common cause of all, for the cause of humanity." 

County Chairman Hennessy, who met Mr. Wilson at jthe Bayonne 
meeting and went with him to the St. John's Hall meeting, declares that 
Hudson is in fine shape for a tremendous majority for Wilson and the 
whole ticket, fixing the majority as high as 15,000 sure, and it looks as 
though he were right. 



XXXV 

SMASHES PASSAIC'S RECORD 

GETS GREATEST OVATION EVER ACCORDED ANY CANDIDATE IN 
HOME CITY OF RIVAL 

Passaic, Nov. i. — Woodrow Wilson's return to Passaic County to- 
night was signalized by a reception that broke all records for political 
gatherings in this live city. The candidate for Governor who is getting 
the hearts of the people was inspired by the tremendous audiences and 
the great enthusiasm to bespeak his mind upon some of the topics close 
to the hearts of Passaic county people — railroad rates, the conservation 
of water rights and the direct primary. The demonstration of approval 
of his views concerning these topics, too, was such as to show that he had 
struck home, and the party leaders of this usually Republican city de- 
clare that there is no ground whatsoever for the extravagant claims of 
the Republicans for majorities for Lewis in his home county. 

Speaking of the working out of the present campaign, Mr. Wilson said 
that he had endeavored from the very start to give earnest and intelligent 
discussion to the matters involved for the welfare of the state, but that 
the other side had found it expedient to indulge in personalities. He said 
that since the discussion had been opened the Republicans had found it 
advisable to follow the Democrats, so that there is now scarcely a line 
of demarkation between the two. 

"Since the platforms were adopted," he said "the Republican candi- 
date has added item after item till he is almost ready to make it unan- 
imous." The immense audience laughed and applauded vigorously 
and it was one of the noticeable incidents of this, one of the largest and 
most effective meetings Mr. Wilson has yet seen assembled, that there 
was no noisy demonstration at any stage of the proceedings. 

It was a different sort of audience and those who know say that it was 
one of the best ever assembled in the city, as it was the first ever held in 
the new and handsome high school, probably the finest and most com- 
modious building of the kind in New Jersey. The nearly 2000 persons 
who sat or stood as they were able took all of their enthusiasm out in the 

19s 



195 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

use of their hands and these they used to advantage at Mr. Wilson's 
every telling point in one of the strongest speeches of his whole campai^ii. 

Mr. Wilson was met at Newark by State Chairman Nugent and 
brought to Passaic in a limousine with "Ed." Burrell at the wheel 
once more, and they reached the handsome home of the Acquackanonk 
Club in one of the prettiest parts of this mighty pretty city. There 
dinner was served with a nvunber of the clubmen, without party 
distinction, acting as hosts and many of the local Democrats sitting 
down to the merry little feast. 

Among them were John O'Leary, chairman of the reception committee; 
Anton L. Petterson, the irrepressible "Bob" Bremner, who editorially 
guides the destinies of the Passaic people; Frank Kilgour, W. Grafton 
Bateman,' William R. Ryan, John T. Wynne, James J. Cowley and others. 

A few minutes' ride in the cars took the party to the high-school build- 
ing, occupying a whole city block and standing like a fortress of popular 
education upon a terraced eminence. In the brilliant lighting of the 
handsome big auditorium, with an audience that showed its intelligent 
appreciation and interest in the lofty sentiments of their leader of men, 
Mr. Wilson seemed to gather inspiration afresh for his message to the 
people of New Jersey, and over and over again he brought great storms 
of approval of his stand. 

"This is a singular campaign," he said; "it does not belong to that ri- 
diculous comedy of politics which we see when men are merely struggling 
for ofl&ce. There is nothing more dull, there is nothing less worth while, 
there is nothing more laughable than the mere struggle of men to occupy 
public oflfice. If public office is the object of politics, then politics is not 
worth the serious consideration of men who are interested in the better- 
ment of communities and in the achievement of things. 

"I conceive myself to have come here to-night in order to expound, if 
I may, what I might call the dynamics of politics. We are not interested 
in the mere filling of offices; they are easily filled; we can get volunteers 
for that at any time. But we are interested in getting something done 
for the state of New Jersey, and that is not easy to do and there are not 
abundant volunteers for that undertaking. We are interested in 
applying force in the direction in which we want to move, and we are 
interested in the movement as much as we are interested in the force. 

"The force is the force of parties — the force of men united to vote 
together to a common end — but the force is not half so interesting as 
the thing it is applied to accomplish. It is applied to accomplish public 



SMASHES PASSAIC'S RECORD 197 

jolicies, and the interesting thing of the present campaign is that we 
tiave made up our minds about most of the important matters that affect 
the important welfare of New Jersey, from the point of view of politics. 
Why, if we know the direction in which we want to move, is there any 
difficulty or doubt as to the choice w^e should make regarding the means 
of moving in that direction? 

' We have made up our minds, then, about what? Why, for one thing, 
we have made up our minds about the Public Utilities Commission. We 
all want a Public Utilities Commission, and we want a Public Utilities 
Commission that will have some definite and effectual powers. That 
is unanimous. But we have not considered this matter very carefully 
jin its details. What, after all, is our main object in having a Public 
Utilities Commission? 

"Many of you are commuters, and you will say that your main object 
in having a Public Utilities Commission is to regulate rates. Yes; but 
the regulation of rates rests upon a great many other things which are 
fundamental to the regulation of rates, and w^hich things interest a com- 
munity just as much as a regulation of rates interests us. The main 
function of a Public Utilities Commission, properly clothed with power, 
is to display to the public by inquiry full information concerning the 
affairs and the finances of the public utility corporations; to be a board 
which can hear complaints concerning all kinds of lack of service and all 
kindsof discrimination in service; can have the same kind of right that the 
Interstate Commerce Commission at Washington to rectify abuses and 
to correct inequalities of service ; to check all these performances which 
may be shown to be inequitable to individuals or to localities, and then, 
building upon these regulations, to establish equitable rights — rights 
which will be equitable alike to the common carrier, to the water com- 
oany, to the gas company and to the electric light company, and equi- 
table to the communities which they serve. That is the full program. 
I don't believe there is any ground for serious debate by anybody on 
that question." 

A great storm of applause showed that Mr. Wilson had struck a pop- 
ular chord. The speaker then went on to show that direct primaries 
and a real employers' liability act are essential to the better welfare of 
the state, and on the former proposition he made this brave thrust: 

"The desire for direct primaries is based upon a certain uneasiness and 
jealousy. We see that the business of choosing candidates for office and 



198 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

delegates to Congress, and all the other persons who have been chosen in 
the processes of politics, has been concentrated and monopolized in the 
hands of managing politicians. We want to see an open, not a shut 
game. We won't always, I imagine, make a very active use of the direct 
primary, but we know that we can use it if we choose, and that we can 
put the machine out of business whenever it occurs to us to do so." 

That, too, was a popular hit, it was very plain. Another subject upon 
which Mr. Wilson touched was the rate question, so close to the interest 
of all the chain of communities along the Passaic watershed, and on this 
he made a fine hit. 

"There has been a long history of the Passaic River," he said. "One 
can get a sniff of that history as he comes along the road. It is lifted to 
heaven out of the very waters of the stream. It has a solidity that any 
stream has unknown elsewhere in the fluid world. If you seek high up 
the stream in order to find pure waters, you find these waters going 
astray, you find these waters beckoned to and led off by a certain water 
company which says: 'This way, if you please. We have some private 
business to transact with you. Will you follow us? We are going to 
sell you wholesale and retail to certain communities who are waiting 
for you in the levels below.' 

"In the meantime, there are all sorts of things that law^'-ers call ri- 
parian rights, which are lying neglected and unused and unasserted in 
these same levels below. Now, that has a legislative histor}-- back of it. 
I am not here to utter an indictment againt the men who passed the 
legislation that made the diversion of the water of the Passaic possible. 

"We were a pretty benighted people once upon a time about ques- 
tions of that kind, and I am perfectly willing to admit that these gentle- 
men were merely benighted, if that sits better on their stomachs. But, 
nevertheless, there was a time when a thing very dangerous for all this 
section of New Jersey was done, a thing dangerous to its health, a thing 
dangerous to its very existence. 

"Now, by some means, by some wise processes of common counsel, 
this part of New Jersey has got to get command again of its watersheds; 
and of its water supply. It has got to be done legally; it has got to bei' 
done justly; it has got to be done with fair compensation to everybody > 
concerned, who have, through mistake or error of policy, acquired any 
rights, but it has got to be done. We cannot afford to let this great 
urban area run much longer the dangers that it is now running. 



SMASHES PASSAIC'S RECORD 199 

"My point is this: that if we are agreed, what do we wait for? If 
opinion is ready, who is not ready? Why, evidently, if we are to judge 
by the histor>' of the past six or eight years, the political organizations 
are not ready. There has been no serious debate about these things, or 
there need not have been, these dozen years. But if the debate is over, 
where is the jury? Why are they out so long? Why are they hung? 
What are they doing? Are they conferring privately with anybody? 
Have they lacked for food and starved? Where are they? 

"Did I not say to you at the beginning of this address that it was a 
suit in political dynamics. Well, here is the power; now why don't you 
move something? Why is the shock just striking air and not driving 
the car of public opinion? Something is the matter; somebody is un- 
willing to move; somebody is unwilling to yield to public opinion; some- 
thing is holding somebody back. And we are tired of it ; we are sick and 
tired of it. It may be habit, it may be ignorance, it may be anything 
that is not criminal, but, no matter what it is, we are tired of it and we 
have had enough of it. 

"They have insisted upon keeping things down to the low and ignoble 
level of personalities. Why? Is it possible that these gentlemen do not 
want to discuss public questions? Is it possible that they do not know 
how to discuss public questions? Is it possible that they think that has 
nothing to do with it, and are merely trying to keep possession? Is 
possession their notion of politics, or is action their notion of politics? 

"What do I conceive the course and heart issue of this campaign? 
What is it about? Is it about getting possession of the government of 
the state, or is it about doing something with the government of the state 
when you have got possession? Now I must tell you frankly that I 
am not interested in getting possession of the government of the state. 
For one thing, it is an extremely and almost unnecessarily complicated 
government. I foresee that it will take about a twelvemonth to know 
its intricacies and cellars and attics and closets, and that there will be 
skeletons in some of the closets, and there is a possibility of exploring 
the premises that is not interesting." 

Speaking of the attitude of the Republican campaign managers, Mr. 
Wilson said: 

"What we want, then, is to recover an old conception of poHtics. 
What conception? Why the conception the Republican party — the rank 
and file — has always had is that government is in the formation of the 



200 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

party; the conception that the Democratic party has always had since 
the days when its founders uttered those general principles which still 
quicken our pulses by the representation and service of the people, the 
conceptions once uttered in the phrase which has lived because sprung 
from living thought, that 'public office is a public trust,' that the object 
of parties is to accomplish the welfare of the people, that the central 
word of all political action is the word 'service.'" 

Many Paterson men who heard Mr. Wilson speak on previous oc- 
casions came down to hear him again. After the great meeting here Mr. 
Wilson, snugly wrapped and shielded from the chill night air in the hm- 
ousine car, was quickly whirled across country to Carlstadt, a cozy little 
nest of Bergen County commuters who are deeply interested in public 
utilities legislation. He was given another handsome ovation and, in 
the present condition of politics in the county, with an ugly perpetual 
fight among the Republicans, it is freely predicted that he will come 
mighty near pulling off a majority. Mr. Wilson went over to the Uni- 
versity Club, New York, to-night. 



XXXVI 

WINS THINKING MEN 

CONVINCES TWO OUTPOURINGS OF HOME-LOVING, TAX-PAYING, 
SUBSTANTIAL CITIZENSHIP 

Orange, Nov. 2. — One glance over the two great audiences that greeted 
Woodrow Wilson on his return to Essex County to-night was sufficient to 
convince any observer that there was much more than the mere candi- 
date for office in a man who could so arouse and so sway the people. Of 
course, Mr. Wilson has become accustomed to unaccustomed things in 
this campaign, but, with all his experiences in gathering to him crowds, 
he scarcely was prepared for the flattering receptions accorded him at 
Montclair and Orange, two sections of Essex in which the Democrats 
have been given scant courtesy in recent years, but where that strong, 
dominating element of New Jersey life, the home-loving, tax-paying, 
law-abiding citizen, abounds. 

Catching his inspiration from this safe element of society, w'th no 
consciousness of an attractive force within himself alone, this new leader 
of American men developed a fresh and efifective force, drawing to him- 
self and the great cause he is preaching a sure, steadfast and earnest 
following that must mean triumph. The spirit of both his speeches, 
directed to thoroughbred men, was that this is not an era of choice of 
men, but a new day, dawning for the triumph of principle and justice. 

"Unless," he said once, "you elect all of the ticket I shall enjoy a 
lonely eminence and shall have to do a lot of futile talking." That was 
the unselfish summing up of his position regarding this campaign for the 
restoration of the Government to the people. 

"There is ample e\'idence that you have got into the game, but are 
you going to stay there? Are you going to be just the audience or part 
of the play?" He asked it another time, and the earnestness of the 
response Mr. Wilson received to that query gave assurance that he would 
have generous and effective support in the stellar role with which he 
heads this new program of government. In all, at the two meetings, Mr. 
Wilson addressed at least 4000 persons, all deeply moved and all dis- 



202 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

playing the utmost interest in the live topics he discussed and rising to 
high pitches of enthusiasm at every effective touch of the electric wave 
that thrills men and quickens men's pulses. 

He was met at Newark by State Chairman Nugent at 4.45 o'clock and 
whirled in the limousine to the Hotel Montclair, at Montclair, one of 
Essex County's most exclusive and intellectual centres. There he had a 
chance for nearly an hour's rest in the big and luxurious hostelry on the 
crest of First Mountain. Soon there gathered a host of Montclair's 
best citizens, headed by T. A. Adams, vice-chairman of the Essex County 
Democratic Committee, and a prominent business man; Harold An- 
derson, Rev. Henry E. Jackson, pastor of the Congregational Church; 
Edward W. Townsend (Chimmie Fadden), candidate for Congress; 
Senator Harry V. Osborne and others. 

A bountiful dinner was served amid attractive decorations and Mr. 
Wilson graciously complied with an urgent request to say a word to 
some "first voters" at the board, which "first voters" meant a bunch of 
Republicans who are going to take the plunge and cast ballots for Mr. 
Wilson. 

In a few minutes the party was in the auditorum of the new high-school 
building, which is more commodious and beautiful than that at Passaic, 
where he had such an ovation last night, and such a comparison is noth- 
ing to the detriment of the Passaic school. Not less than 2000 persons 
were gathered when Mr. Wilson appeared and they overran every point 
from which they could get a sight of this man who has kindled the great 
fire of hope in the breasts of New Jersey's best citizenship. 

It was plain from the start that such a gathering was inspiring to the 
speaker, as was the reception accorded him as he stepped before it and 
paused while the wave of applause, like the boom of storm-riven breakers 
on the bar, subsided. Then, as he proceeded, his hearers displayed a 
quick and ready perception of his most subtle thrusts, and all the way 
through his fifty-minute address he was made to feel by every known 
process of communication that he had reached the minds and hearts 
of patriotic people. 

" I feel as I look over an audience like this that something has happened 
in New Jersey," said he. "We have tried to introduce a new kind of 
political campaign, and it seems to take, for we are not interested in com- 
mending a party to you, we are not interested in commending persons 
for office, but we are deeply interested in commending certain political 
purposes to you, we are deeply interested in discussing the means of 



WINS THINKING MEN 203 

advancing the welfare of the Commonwealth to which we should be 
devoted. 

"We have heard a great deal in recent months of Progressive Repub- 
licans and of Progressive Democrats and of progressive men of this, that 
and the other creed or persuasion. I suppose that the implication is 
that there are also retrogressive Republicans and retrogressive Demo- 
crats and men of every sort or other who wish to stand still or to pull 
things back to a period which we hope we have left behind us. But 
whatever our understanding of the meaning of these designations may be, 
this thing is clear, that only those who profess progressive principles are 
now likely to attract the attention or to hold to themselves the purposes 
of this free country. 

"There is no means of health except progress. Nothing can be kept, 
nothing that lives can be kept at a single point without disease and decay. 
When you speak, therefore, of a Progressive Republican I understand 
you to mean a man who wishes to carry forward to the uses of a new age 
the ancient principles of an old party. When you speak of a Progressive 
Democrat I understand that you mean not a man who will always be 
standing upon a literal interpretation of quotations of Thomas Jefferson, 
but one who will try to carry forward in the service of a new age the spirit 
of Thomas Jefferson, the spirit of this man who tried to comprehend 
the things of the people, and to serve them by political combinations and 
concerted action. 

"What we want, therefore, and what I dare say a company of men 
like this is united in wanting, is a progressive Government. But it is 
one thing to use these general terms and to be sure that you want to 
make progress, and it is another thing to know what progress is and 
wherein it consists. The fact that a man is moving all the time does 
not prove that he is progressive; it depends where he started and in 
what direction he is going. 

" I have seen men stumble on the right track, and I have seen men keep 
to the right track by a sort of an indulgent Providence, but neither sort 
of man is the leader of progress. Progress consists of movement from 
day to day, foot by foot, through a long series of practical details. We 
never invented and never shall invent the airship in politics; we have to 
keep our feet on the ground, to accommodate ourselves to slow move- 
ments and a united life in order to make progress." 

This brought Mr. Wilson to a trite deduction that the kind of progress 
most needed in New Jersey is that which includes legislation for a 



204 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

aroper employers' liability act, for direct primaries, conservation of 
latural resources and the rate-making power for a utilities commission. 

"But anybody can write out a program," said he, "and we can 
;arry out and exhaust the program, but then will we be satisfied? 
[s that all we are after? That is not all I am after. That is not all that 
1 company of thoughtful people like this is after; that will not satisfy 
:hem. 

"Have we laid out a little program that in two or three years of 
Tiere keeping faith we can fulfil and establish? Then shall we merely by 
resolution demand this, that or the other thing for any particular part 
3f the community? That is not what we are after. We are after realiz- 
ng our purposes in action. But there is something greater than action, 
md that is the spirit and process of light behind it. I consider this to 
DC a year — and it is a most exhilarating year in consequence — of re- 
laissance of American impulse for right government in politics. That 
mpulse will not spend and exhaust itself upon a single program and 
1 single platform; it will go on with accumulating force until men shall 
itand most to see that American citizens have recovered control of their 
3wn Government, or begun to. 

"The processes by which you recover control of a Government are not 
Tierely voting into ofi&ce a set of men who promise to do particular things, 
md making them do them by fear of being anathematized if they don't, 
rhere is nothing in that, there is nothing hopeful in a program like 
:hat. You can whip any party under fear of eventual defeat into doing 
:he will of the people if they know what the will of the people is and if 
y^ou keep whipping them into action; but to whip them and force them 
sn't anything to satisfy the ambition of a man who would lead a great 
Deople or a great people who would be led. What we want is to 
recover the fundamental processes of America in an age when it will 
DC a greater achievement to recover them than it ever could have been 
in any preceding age. 

"Now, the enormous task of our day is for the majority of us to forget 
3ur special interests long enough to take action with regard to the wel- 
fare of the whole. That is the splendid program of the progressive — 
to put things forward by justice, by fairness, by a concern for all in- 
terests, by a combination of all interests, by a union of all interests, until 
men shall think in the terms of the common weal and not in the terms 
3f special interests or partisan advantage. How are you going to do it? 

"That is what interests me. I believe that the present specific pro- 



WINS THINKING MEN 205 

gram can be carried out. It cannot be carried out, I am afraid — let 
me say parenthetically — if you send me to Trenton all by myself. 
Unless you elect a Democratic ticket, I submit, I shall have a very lonely 
eminence, and shall be obliged to indulge in a lot of futile talk, because 
things have to be done by the body; they cannot be done by the individ- 
ual, and the individual does not want to make himself a common scold. 
He wants cooperation, and I believe from conferences with my fellow- 
Democrats on the Democratic ticket that they are ready to give me their 
cooperation. I believe that this program can be carried out. 

"We have to make our choice how it is going in New Jersey, but the 
method is not enough; you have to carry the method to this point, that 
you have to elect men to office who represent the method, men who are 
in love with that method, men who are in love with publicity, men who 
are in love with discussion, with the settlement of things on genuine 
basis; men who don't want to occupy office simply for the sake of occupy- 
ing office; men who don't care a peppercorn for an office that does not 
carry with it the confidence and support of their fellow-citizens. 

"So far as that is concerned it would be more comfortable to occupy 
some other office if the difficulty is merely pecuniary, because you can 
find offices with better salaries. Your wife and your children do not 
approve of political office; it has all sorts of uncertainty about it. But 
it is immensely exhilarating and worth while if it is designed to lead the 
community to shape its affairs in the common interest. 

"That is the highest privilege that can come to any American, no 
matter how humble a political place he may occupy, to be the real rep- 
resentative of thoughtful and spirited men in advancing the public 
interests. I do not see how anybody can read American history 
without feeling his pulse quicken at a conception like that." 

Though there was a great clamor on the part of the people to meet Mr. 
Wilson and to grip his hand, the rush to the front was restrained by Chair- 
man Anderson, and the candidate was put in his car for the run of about 
fifteen minutes over to Orange in a bad drizzle. As Mr. Wilson alighted 
from his car he was met by Lawrence T. Fell, one of the Essex Demo- 
cratic leaders, and City Chairman Finney, who escorted him into Col- 
umbia Hall. 

"Why," said the candidate, in surprise, as he looked over a room filled 
with empty benches. "Oh, the meeting is upstairs," said Fell, as he led 
the way up a rear entrance to the stage. There, in a trice, Mr. Wilson 
gazed out upon fully 1500 persons, all that could squeeze into the place. 



2o6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

and there was a tremendous ovation for him. In the audience sat Rev. 
W. J. McDonald, pastor of the prosperous Catholic parish; his assist- 
ants, Fathers Marvell, Kane and Reilly. Rev. D. E. Brown, pastor 
of the Washington Street Baptist Church ; Rev. Adolph Roeder, a Lu- 
theran divine of much prominence, and many well-known residents of 
the town. 

Despite the late hour the audience paid the closest attention to the 
speaker for a half hour, and he made many effective points, urging the 
people to get together for good government. 

The two big meetings of the night have given renewed confidence to 
the Wilson campaign managers. Nobody ever saw such meetings here 
before; nobody ever saw the county so thoroughly aroused, and Chair- 
man Nugent is full of glee. 



XXXVII 
COUNTY OF THE FOE WARMS 

PROMISES NEW HISTORY — SAYS HE WILL NOT GIVE THE STATE 
A DULL MOMENT IF HONORED WITH OFPICE 

Morristown, Nov. 3. — Out of a heavy snowstorm, after a day of inces- 
sant downpour, Woodrow Wilson gathered sunny prospects in Morris 
County, the home of " Uncle Dan" Voorhees, State Treasurer, and one of 
the Republican leaders of the state. Despite the nasty weather three 
good-sized and very deeply interested audiences gathered to greet the 
candidate, and all the people showed such eagerness and enthusiasm that 
many of the Democratic leaders of the county are thoroughly convinced 
that the Wilson ticket will at least come near winning, although the 
county is addicted to 2500 Republican majority. 

The addresses were made at Madison at 3.30 o'clock, at Dover at 7.30 
o'clock, and in this city at 9, and in all of them Mr. Wilson presented his 
lofty ideals of government and of the separation of government from the 
special interests which for so long have dominated public affairs. 

"We are going to try an interesting experiment on the 8th of Novem- 
ber," he said, "but it is not going to be so painfully interesting to the 
men who are going to be elected, for they will be permanently retired if 
they don't make good. If I am elected, some of the most interest- 
ing political history New Jersey has ever seen is going to be written, and 
I promise you that you shan't have a dull moment. 

"As the campaign draws to a close I find myself feeling, in a sense, the 
solemnity of it. It was great fun at first; it was great fun to come out 
and be critically scrutinized as a closeted schoolmaster who was trying 
to play an unaccustomed part; but as I have faced audience after au- 
dience and have seen the eagerness of the faces I have faced to discuss 
not candidates, not the fortunes of parties, but the fortunes of a common- 
wealth and the probabilities of such policies as would lift the common- 
wealth to a new level of accomplishment, I felt how serious a matter it is 
to stand for office among a people who are expecting great things of 

207 



2o8 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

those whom they may elect to office, for I have never been deceived, 
ladies and gentlemen, about the character of government. 

" Government consists of the men who compose it, and I cannot im- 
agine anything more solemn than the fact that a great body of your 
fellow-citizens have deliberately trusted you with a great enterprise in 
which they expected you to be their spokesman and representative. 

"We have discussed before many audiences this year the issues of the 
campaign. I have taken pride in pointing out that the platform of the 
Democratic party is not a body of rhetorical phrases, but a definite pro- 
gram of what they wish to do for the state, and I have again called 
the attention of the audiences we have addressed to this interesting dif- 
ference between the Republican case and the Democratic case. 

"In the Republican case the candidate and the platform do not match; 
in the Democratic case they do. I have not advanced a single position 
in these speeches that is not to be found explicitly stated in the Demo- 
cratic platform, whereas Mr. Lewis, displaying more and more as the 
campaign has advanced his own liberal tendencies and opinions, has 
added item after item of personal conviction on his part that is not to 
be found in the Republican platform, 

"Apparently, therefore, I have a party behind me and Mr. Lewis has 
not; but, inasmuch as I am arguing, to my great embarrassment, for my 
preference over Mr. Lewis, you will see that I am precluded from arguing 
it on the basis of our opinion, on the basis of what we individually stand 
for. What basis is left, therefore, for argument? Nothing but the 
personal basis, and that is extremely embarrassing. Mr. Lewis has been 
in active public life a long time; I have never been in active public life; 
I have only taken pains to understand public questions, and, therefore, 
there is no basis that I can think of except one for commending myself 
to your suffrages. 

"That one is not my personal ability, not my personal character, but 
my — if I may so express it — impersonal connection. I have not been 
bred in a political organization, and Mr. Lewis has been bred in a political 
organization. What I want to point out to you as the main theme of 
what I have to say is that not only is the fundamental matter in govern- 
ment to find men who can be trusted in the administration of affairs, 
but men who can be expected in the administration of affairs to resist 
temptation. 

"I don't mean the gross kind of temptation; I don't mean the tempta- 
tion of money. I think to self-respecting men there is no temptation 
in money — in money evilly got — but there is a very great temptation 



COUNTY OF THE FOE WARMS 209 

in those things that tug at the heart-strings. I can imagine that a man 
bred by long custom to cooperate with a particular body of men in 
party questions would find it very difficult to accomplish things accord- 
ing to his own judgment. That is the subtlest temptation that concerns 
us; and what I want to intimate to you, without desiring to cast asper- 
sion on anybody's character, for that is not part of the argument, is 
that we have had programs of action before, and made rather ex- 
pUcitly by the Republican leaders, but they have never been carried 
out. 

"The most interesting thing in answering that question is that we don't 
know why they have not been carried out. Nobody can tell you why 
they have not been carried out, which means that politics is now based 
on private understandings which are none of our business. If you will 
not give me some other rational explanation, and if nobody can tell me 
except by intimation why their programs are not carried out, I am 
warranted in coming to the conclusion that it is not something which 
can be discussed in public. 

"There may be reasons for that, for there are things which, I am 
pleased to admit, it is not in the public interest to discuss publicly, be- 
cause they would be misinterpreted and misunderstood, but what I 
seriously object to is any government conducted upon the basis of pri- 
vate understanding with anybody." 

All who heard Mr. Wilson caught the ring of his sincerity of purpose 
and his sure destiny, for over all there hovered the feehngs, oft expressed 
in this new kind of campaign for this intrepid leader, that the future has 
in store for him greater things than his present candidacy. 

At the conclusion of the Dover meeting it was decided that, as the 
roads were lakes of slush, it would be dangerous to make the run by 
automobiles, so there was a rush of the meeting in order that the party 
might make the 8.22 train for this city. In a beating snowstorm the 
forlorn campaigners looked like a band of barnstorming actors. Colonel 
Alexander Bacon, of Brooklyn, was speaking in the Lyceimi to a 
surprisingly large audience when they arrived, and he kept on 
with his address until 9.20 o'clock. The big crowd was quickly 
responsive to Mr. Wilson's points, and the applause came strong and 
emphatic. 

It was a bad day for Mr. Wilson, but he weathered it finely. He was 
met at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, at Newark, by State Chair- 
man Nugent, former Senator Smith and General E. P. Meaney, former 



210 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Judge Advocate General of the National Guard, and in General Meaney's 
big limousine car he was made as snug as a bug in a rug and whirled out 
into the November rain. 

It was planned to reach Madison, the first stop, at 3 o'clock, but the 
muddy roads made the going so bad that for almost the first time in the 
campaign Mr. Wilson was a half-hour late. While awaiting his ap- 
pearance a bunch of students from Dover Theological Seminary, a 
Methodist institution, enlivened things with songs, and when Mr. 
Wilson did appear they let loose in this lively chorus, fitted to "Mr. 
Dooley": 

Oh, Mr. Wilson! Oh, Mr. Wilson, 
The finest man New Jersey ever saw; 
Oh, Mr. Wilson! Oh, Mr. Wilson, 
Wilson, Wilson, Wilson. That is all. 

This was supplemented by a locomotive cheer for the candidate that 
brought from him a broad smile. There is said to be a reason in the en- 
thusiasm of these young theologians. All of them have registered for 
the coming election and are said to be unanimous for Wilson. 

Besidesthe students there were fully 200 persons in the hall, which was 
regarded as very remarkable on a day like this, when nobody wanted to 
stir from home except on some absolutely necessary errand. Mr. Wilson 
was presented by Wayne Alright, a one-time Princeton man, and when 
he was given a chance to speak, following the applause, the candidate 
acquitted himself well, despite the doubtful and cheerless day. 

"Those sounds I have heard," he said, "make me feel very much at 
home, but the only danger is that I will start out and make a speech on 
education rather than politics. But, after all, this has been a campaign 
of education and there is a growing impression in New Jersey that we 
are not seeking the office, but trjdng to solve some of the problems of 
government confronting the Commonwealth. 

"As the campaign draws to a close," he said later, "it takes on more 
of the personal aspect. As the Republican candidate has followed me 
step by step in all that I have stood for, it becomes necessary for you to 
make a choice of men. As to the Republican candidate, I have no doubt 
of his sincerity, but he has long been associated with an organization 
that shows a disposition to get in the way of the process of progress, 
which position is impossible in the circumstances. We are not in the 
same America we were when their political processes were started. We 



I 



COUNTY OF THE FOE WARMS 211 

are not in the same America we were ten years ago. The stand-pat 
program is always wrong." 

From that Mr. Wilson proceeded to unfold his thought that the people 
of to-day demanded a program of progress, an improvement upon exist- 
ing conditions, and that it is necessary for the people to choose who shall 
lead them in the effort to accomplish these things. Later, in discussing 
the situation in which parties are apt to find themselves, he said : 

"One of the great temptations to be resisted is the constant pressure 
for office for rewards for party ser\aces. There is the pressure for the 
discipline of those who have not done what their fellows regard as right. 
Why, the party is not for reward or discipline, but for the service of the 
state. You can't regard the party as anything but an instrumentality 
for the good of the Government. 

" I know the processes of mynomination, and they were that the Demo- 
cratic party should stand for certain principles and purposes. If it had 
not I would not have accepted the post. I represent the Democratic 
platform in the campaign. The weakness of the Republican candidate 
is that he has more of a platform than his party has. What other glory 
is really worth while but that of being of service to your fellow-men." 

After the meeting Mr. Wilson stood on the platform and shook hands 
with the young seminarians as they passed up, one by one. Then he was 
whirled over the country, with slush and snow and rain beating against 
the windows of the limousine. He reached Dover at 5 o'clock and had a 
chance for a rest of an hour at the Hotel Dover. 



XXXVIII 
WARNS BALLOT CROOKS 

SEES WAVE OF POPULAR WILL SWEEPING THEM ON TOWARD A 
DESERVED DOOM 

Perth Amboy, Nov. 4. — Woodrow Wilson encountered the biggest 
surprise of his new kind of campaign here to-night. In a hard, driving 
storm that struck to the very marrow, he faced an audience of fully 2700 
persons in one of the largest public halls in the state and an audience that 
was quick to respond to his appeal to the intelligent and patriotic spirit 
of his auditors. The Auditorium, a new structure, seating 2200 persons, 
was so crowded that no more could squeeze a nose in and many were 
turned away disappointed, while hundreds stood in the spaces back of the 
tiers of seats on the main floors and the balconies. 

Under such circumstances Mr. Wilson was in prime shape for a telling 
address and in some measure he was in reviewing mood, presenting to the 
vast assemblage some of the points he had made so strongly in the 
campaign, but presenting them in new form and in fresh thought. 

"The Republican party," he said, "gets in a progressive mood every 
three years," and when the laughter had subsided, he added: "Per- 
haps they haven't got up steam this year. The fact is, there is hardly 
anything left for me to discuss in the campaign, for the Republican candi- 
date has taken up, step by step, everything for which our program 
provided. 

"I want you to answer this question for yourselves — why have so 
many promises been made to you that have not been kept? I suspect 
that the trouble is they think the campaign is a dress parade, and when 
it is over there is nothing left to be done. They seem to think that the 
only thing to be done is to take care of big business." 

Passing along on his strong appeal for good government Mr. Wilson 
made frequent allusion to the charges that the registry lists in South 
Jersey have been padded, saying, among other things, that the men re- 



WARNS BALLOT CROOKS 213 

sponsible for those outrages want to take care, as the people of New 
Jersey are not going to stand for Philadelphia gang methods. 

"The trouble is these men can't see the great wave of popular will 
sweeping across the country, and when it comes then will be their day of 
reckoning, and I don't envy them the part," he said, and went on: 

" Perth Amboy is one of the first places in the state to have a non-parti- 
san school board. I cannot imagine anything that should be non-parti- 
san if not a school board. I have been, as you have been told by some 
of my political opponents, a schoolmaster for a good many years and 
I have never seen any propriety by any possibility of introducing parti- 
sanship into teaching. 

"It is singular that it first occurred to Perth Amboy that you should 
have had the leadership in constituting your board in the proper way, 
and I congratulate you upon that evidence of progressiveness, but one 
does not have to go far afield in order to find out why a community like 
this is progressive. You know that in the history of great nations those 
have been most powerful that have had the greatest combination of 
strong blood in them. 

" I know that a great many people, not knowing history and not know- 
ing what really constitutes the strength of nations, have been jealous of 
our process of compounding a nation out of a store of national elements, 
not knowing that was the way America was compounded at first, and 
that in a community like Perth Amboy the American process is being 
repeated all over again, of the contribution of scores of nations to a 
rich compound that makes for new imagination, new impulses and new 
purposes, a nationality rich in its elements and powerful in all purposes. 

"I look upon a community like this as a picture of America in the 
making, and there is no better means of making America the proper com- 
pound of strong national elements than by meetings like this, provided 
you come together in order not merely to discuss the question as to which 
man you will put into ofiice, but to discuss the question of what service 
you will render by your vote to the great state of which you are a part. 

"The only thing worth discussing is not the fortunes of individuals, 
not the fortunes of parties, but the promotion of a common interest that 
is to achieve the bettering of our interests by getting together in a com- 
mon enterprise and by seeing enough to see our communities as a whole, 
to seek to lift them to the levels to which we would seek to see them lifted; 
that is what the campaign is about. 

" This campaign is not intended to support the fortunes of parties. If 
the Republican party can serve the Commonwealth of New Jersey better 



214 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

than the Democratic party, that is the only question you need answer. 
If the Democratic party can serve the Commonwealth better than the 
Republican party, that is the only question that you need be interested 
in, but always the question is, which will serve the Commonwealth best, 
not which party will prosper most in its own fortunes by filling the ofiices 
in the state. 

"Don't you see, therefore, that as public men we have to do the very 
thing that is done and done very wisely in a mixture of races. Men 
flock to America from many continents and from many countries. They 
come with all sorts of free dispositions, with all sorts of prejudices and 
with all sorts of habits. They unite together in a single community 
and find themselves engrossed in that thing that we call the American 
spirit, in that sentiment that we call the national sentiment of America. 

"No man can tell how it comes; it comes in no very describable fash- 
ion, but it rises slowly in our hearts in a single generation. Men don't 
forget their ancient connections and their homes in foreign lands; they 
still love the dear soil they have left, but nevertheless feel that they are 
part of America; no matter where they come from they imbibe the new 
spirit and become Americans. 

"You have particular manufacturing interests in this community, but 
you should not centre your thoughts on these interests and on these alone, 
no matter how short a time you sojourn in this particular division of 
America which we love under the name of New Jersey. You should try 
to get some of the spirit of New Jersey in you; not a spirit that is antag- 
onistic to your neighbors; not a spirit that is antagonistic to the homes 
you have left; not a spirit of jealousy of New York or of disdainfulness 
of Pennsylvania — though it is hard not to be disdainful of the politics of 
Pennsylvania — but a spirit of comradeship and a feeling that America 
cannot be sound unless all of you are sound, that America cannot be 
pure and patriotic unless New Jersey is pure and patriotic, unless she 
helps to lift the common levels and to take a patriotic and disinterested 
step forward." 

Further along he said that all of these things make a picture of what is 
inside of the minds of men as well as being evidence of things accom- 
plished, and that a progressive community is not one which only makes 
progress, but is thoughtful of something >>esides the present. 

"You cannot make progress unless you look at the road ahead of you; 
you cannot make prudent progress unless you look at the road ahead of 



SUPHEMK (OUHT JUSTICE SAMUEL KALISCH 



WARNS BALLOT CROOKS 215 

you," he continued. "If you had been going about the state in auto- 
mobiles over roads at night, as I have been in this campaign, you would 
be more interested in the road ahead of you than you would be in the 
road behind you. And a progressive commtmity has to have its light 
of it penetrating every fog, disclosing every obstacle, uncovering every 
danger ahead, and know where to turn and the road signs. 

"What does that mean? Why are the people interested all over the 
country in the question of conservation? What does it mean? Keep- 
ing certain gentlemen from stealing mineral lands and appropriating the 
public lands in Alaska. Yes, it means that, but not that only. It 
means keeping men from appropriating money that they ought not to 
appropriate except for the public benefit in and around Perth Amboy 
also. 

"The whole business of conservation lies right around you and it is 
just as much your business to conserve the public health as to conserve 
the water resources and all these things that should be as common and 
as useful as the air. When you have tuberculos^'s, contagion of any kind, 
when you sweep through the streets and factories, you are interested in 
the deepest conservation of all conservations that start with the health 
of men. 

"That is what public affairs are for; they are the study of things for 
everybody in every respect; they are not merely for promoting political 
projects. I sometimes think that political projects are the least part of 
the matter, but they are for promoting all the common interests that per- 
tain to the health and body and spirit of man. 

"It is just as important to America to be a land of religious freedom 
and to let every man follow the dictates of his own conscience as it is 
to walk the streets unmolested without proper police protection. I 
woidd a great deal rather be free in my thoughts than in my body. I 
would rather a great deal lie bedridden with a free mind than to go where 
I please in bondage to other men's opinions. 

"I have heard of Progressive Republicans and Progressive Democrats 
and progressive this and progressive that, but I can tell them apart only 
by what they do. I cannot tell them apart by what they profess to be- 
lieve in; I can only tell them apart by what they do in correspondence 
with their professions. 

"Now the present Republican organization of this state might call 
itself progressive until it was out of breath and I could not believe it, 
because it has never progressed. If you wish me to regard you as mov- 
able I must trouble you to move, unless I have ocular demonstration or 



2i6 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

proof that you are movable. Now every three years the Republican 
machine says that it is progressive, but it has not budged an inch. 

" It may be getting up steam, it may have sent for gasoline, its sparker 
may be out of order, I do not know what is the matter with it, but I 
know it has not moved and therefore I begin to have my suspicion 
whether it is movable except by dynamite. 

" On the 8th of November we are going to try dynamite. It may then 
move in separate and scattered parts, but it will move, and the dynamite 
is going to be your own convictions, your own conclusions as to what sort 
of men you want and what you want them to do. The interesting part 
of this whole business is going to come in watching the men you choose; 
I say that with uncomfortable anticipation; I expect to be watched be- 
cause I expect to be elected. 

"The interesting part of it may be now for you, but it will be then for 
me. All I have had to do in the campaign has been to go about and make 
speeches to cordial and indulgent audiences. It is easy enough to have 
men sit and look at me as you look at me with cordiality and sympathy. 
Under such circumstances I can talk all night, but when you are looking 
at me critically after the election, and when what I say counts for very 
little, but what I do counts for a great deal, then there may be times 
when I will get nervous, but I am going to control my nerves and see 
if something can be accomplished, always with your assistance." 

All the way along the stirring, heart-searching address Mr. Wilson was 
forced to halt to let the applause subside, for never before in the campaign 
so punctuated by forceful demonstration of approval was he given more 
appreciable attention or deeper interest. At the conclusion of his ad- 
dress a great cheer for the next Governor of New Jersey arose and the 
crowd was in a jubilant mood, assuring success next Tuesday. Perth 
Amboy has been giving Democratic majorities of nearly looo for two or 
three years, but Assemblyman Ramsey declares it will go to 2000 and 
that Middlesex County is safe for Wilson by that much at least. 

Following Mr. Wilson addresses were made by Senator George S. 
Silzer, who is an idol of Middlesex people, and by the Assembly candi- 
dates. It was an astonishing thing to Mr. Wilson to see such a demon- 
stration in Perth Amboy on a night when a storm was raging and people 
had to suffer intense discomfort to stir out of doors. In a cold, pene- 
trating, driving rain from the northeast, a great crowd collected outside 
the Packer House, where Mr. Wilson arrived shortly before 6 o'clock, 
and they stuck to it until he came down to dinner, and then they stood 



WARNS BALLOT CROOKS 217 

about the doorways and windows, eager to catch a glimpse of him and to 
show their interest in the battle going on all over the state. 

It was an enthusiasm beyond all comparison in this campaign so full 
of enthusiasm. Outside the hotel a band played patriotic airs while 
a fine display of fireworks enlivened the scene and, despite the heavy 
rain, men paraded in raincoats and under umbrellas, fully 500 of them 
braving the storm. At the dinner Mr. Wilson met Mayor Albert E. 
Bollschweiler, Thomas J. Scully, the popular candidate for Congress, who 
is likely to get Howell's seat; City Chairman Richard F. White, County 
Clerk B. M. Gannon, Dr. W. E. Ramsey, an Assemblyman, who is to 
be reelected; W. Parker Runyon, a bunch of prominent Democrats 
from New Brunswick and about a score of others astir for the success of 
the ticket. 

The way to the Auditorium, about two blocks from the hotel, was 
ablaze with red fire, and there was a perfect rush of people to get there. 
Mr. Wilson was taken in the weather-proof limousine, in which he made 
the long, stormy journey to Princeton from Morristown, late last night, 
over to Roosevelt, where he was accorded another great reception, and 
where he made a short but effective address. 

Mr. Wilson will wind up his great campaign to-morrow at a meeting 
in Kreuger Auditorium, Newark, after making speeches at Bloomfield, 
Glen Ridge and East Orange. The Newark meeting is expected to be 
one of the greatest ever seen in the city. 



XXXIX 

LAST CALL GREATEST 

PLEADS FOR REAL RULE — ARRAIGNS BOSS-LED REPUBLICAN PARTY 
FOR ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH INTERESTS 

Newark, Nov. 5. — Letting down the curtain on the first act of the 
tirring drama of American history, in which he is the new-risen star, 
^oodrow Wilson to-night was accorded a mark of approval that must 
ing in his ears and linger in his eyes till the lights go out forever upon his 
tage of action. 

No mortal man ever won the hearts of an awakened people like this 
nan did those in a vast audience in the Krueger Auditorium, where, 
;arlier in the campaign, he scored a triumph no less brilliant. No man 
n New Jersey has so gripped human interest, so aroused the spirit, so 
ifted the human mind, and it has all been so clear, so simple, so direct, 
;o compelling that any fair-minded man must of necessity be fully con- 
anced of his absolute sincerity and unflinching courage. 

Mr. Wilson made four speeches in Essex County to-day, three this 
ifternoon in the suburban sections of Newark, and the final appeal to- 
light to nearly 3000 eager, interested persons, and in all of them the rui- 
ng note was the awakened impulse of the new American, the reha- 
)ilitation of the old American, the readjustment of the Government to the 
leeds of the people as against the behests of special privilege. It was 
efreshing, therefore, to watch and to hear with what a storm of unan- 
mity the thinking people agreed that that is the great question of 
o-day. 

Mr. Wilson's four addresses were delivered to different assemblages, 
)ut at no time was there the slightest attempt to adjust his perfect men- 
;al balance to meet the differing conditions. Always there was that frank 
ind open discussion of the vital truths that have swayed this giant star 
n all his comings and goings since he began to take the people into his 
;onfidence and began to cast the searchlight of his master mind into the 
lark corners and up the blind alleys of machine politics. 

218 



LAST CALL GREATEST 219 

And when he projected, with quiet reason, but in sturdy characters, 
the idea that the one great question of to-day for America and for New 
Jersey was to choose safe leaders, the mighty response which came back 
to him that he was the chosen one must have swelled the heart within 
him. At the close of the powerful speech that fairly lifted men 
out of themselves, one could hear almost a sob of pent-uj) feeling 
amid the intense stillness, only broken by the keen vibrant notes of the 
master voice. 

The brilliant wind-up of the campaign included afternoon speeches at 
Glen Ridge, Bloomfield and East Orange, where many prosperous com- 
muters live and where political independence is so strong that it chooses 
a man of the Colby type every little while. In all of his speeches Mr. 
Wilson thrilled his intelligent hearers, who jammed all three of the halls, 
with the patriotic impulse that sways his own great mind. 

It was perfectly evident that, of the nearly 6000 persons who listened 
to him to-day, he had not before had a more sympathetic or appreciative 
audience, and he seemed to draw fresh inspiration, for all three of the 
addresses were different, and it was difficult to pick the strongest. 
Speaking to the 1500 persons who crowded every bit of space in Common- 
wealth Hall at East Orange, Mr. Wilson described that what really is 
happening in the whole country is that the people are seeking new 
leaders in whom they can trust, and this, he explained, accounts for the 
tremendous power over the people which Theodore Roosevelt enjoys. 

Mention of the name of the Colonel elicited a round of cheers, which 
showed that a majority of his hearers were Republicans, though, be- 
yond all question, in quick sympathy with the speaker. "There are so 
many hidden passages, so many back doors and hidden processes in this 
system," said the candidate, referring to the prevalent political system 
and its business alliance, "that we believe that somebody is working a 
game. That is the reason the Democrats have proposed to send me to 
Trenton to find out what is going on, to disclose to the people of New 
Jersey what is their own business." 

Mr. Wilson arrived here soon after 2 o'clock and was a few minutes 
ahead of time at the first stop at the Town Hall, in the handsome public 
schoolhouse at Glen Ridge. The hall was crowded with interested 
persons, of course. It would be a singular thing to see a small Wilson 
audience. A short address was made by James K. Milod, one of the 
bright candidates for Assembly in Essex, who said it was quite extra- 
ordinary for so many people of Glen Ridge to gather for a Democratic 
meeting. With an instantly responsive audience, Mr. Wilson was in 



220 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

fine form, and he made a rattling address, bristling with good, effective 
points. 

"Politics as now operated," he said, "is a complete system, and we 
on the outside don't understand all its deep intricacies, but we propose to 
get on the inside and understand it all." He made a sharp rap at 
"Cannonism" in Congress and said that it also exists in the New Jersey 
legislature, that system of legislation by committee. 

"You've got to treat diseased politics," he said, "as we have learned 
to treat tuberculosis, by having people live outdoors and even sleeping 
in the pure air." 

The last was perhaps the greatest meeting of a campaign, totally un- 
matched by any pages of New Jersey history. People began to flock to 
Krueger Auditorium, the largest public hall in Newark, as early as 7 
o'clock, although the meeting was not scheduled till 8. Then when Mr. 
Wilson arrived, accompanied by Mayor Haussling, and he was identified, 
a great shout arose. 

But when the Mayor disdained to project his own personality into 
what he was quick to recognize as a mighty tribute to this new leader of 
men, and Mr. Wilson stepped out into the glare of electric light, the im- 
mense audience "cut loose for fair," as one on the stage expressed it. 
They shouted and cheered and threw their hats in the air, stood on chairs, 
and kept cheering and calling his name till it seemed the candidate must 
be embarrassed. Then he started it going all over again when he said: 

"It sounds like the cheering on the homestretch." 

"And Wilson wins!" cried an enthusiast, as the thousands of throats 
broke into another roar. Mr. Wilson in some measure made his ad- 
dress in review of his six weeks of campaigning, but he did it in such form 
and presented it with such new thoughts that the whole address sparkled 
with crispness and went straight with its force. 

"I started out six weeks ago," he said, "by outlining what seemed to 
me the Democratic opportunity, the opportunity of the Democratic 
party, because no one else had seemed ready to recognize it and avail 
themselves of it — the opportunity to lead a great people seeking leader- 
ship in the effort to restore their Government to its ancient processes. 

"Why, gentlemen, there has not been any such opportunity in a gen- 
eration in this country as in this year to set an example as to what the 
people of a free commonwealth should have in the government and con- 
trol of their own affairs. Do you know that all over this country there's 
a search for principles, not a search for expedients, not a search for self- 



LAST CALL GREATEST 221 

isliness, not a search by men who are seeking to get something that will 
be for their own selfish aggrandizement, but a search for some one, some 
body of men, some party of men, who will set up again the ancient stand- 
ards of principles which men used to gather about and follow in this 
country. 

"Politics in recent years has degenerated in New Jersey, as elsewhere, 
into a struggle for control, into an effort to preserve the integrity and 
power of an organization which held the people at arms' length, and all 
over the country there has been the starting of opinion, starting and 
gathering of revolt against the processes of politics because they are the 
processes of selfishness and not the processes of patriotism. 

"You know what happend in Washington. There was no intimation 
that there was any split or division in the Republican party until the 
present unspeakably selfish legislation known as the Payne-Aldrich bill 
was passed or brought up. Then what happened? Certain men who 
were Republicans said that this piece of legislation was not in conformity 
even with the professions of the Republican party; it was not a measure 
for protection, but a measure for patronage; that it was seeking to give 
favors where favors were not needs, and that its object was not the indus- 
trial object of America. 

"That was said by United States Senators — men who have gone out 
in the West and made a poUtical revolution. All the while, standing 
by them, is that same Democratic party, mustering thousands of strong 
men over the country, where there were Democrats waiting for the 
Republicans to come to their senses — waiting for the Republicans to 
see that this was not patriotic accomphshment, but self-aggrandize- 
ment. 

"So that it is nothing but the simple truth to say that the Democratic 
party, in respect of its principles, has been waiting for the country to 
recover its just point of view and see the public interest in its true light. 
Was it not, then, the golden opportunity for Democracy to come into 
its own, to step forward and take the leadership of an awakened people 
in the return to sensible and safe poHtics — not only that, but to the 
methods of right politics? ^ 

"What are the right methods of politics? They are the methods of 
public discussion; they are the methods of public opinion; they are the 
methods of open leadership — open and above board — not closeted 
with boards of guardians, or anybody else, but brought into the open, 
where honest eyes can look upon them and honest ears can judge of 
their integrity. If there is nothing to conceal, then why conceal it? 



222 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

If it is a public game, why play it in private? That is the Democratic 
jnquiry — that is the inquiry of the United States." 

Proceeding to show the difference between the two parties in the cam- 
paign, he said: 

"You did not have to question the candidate for Governor on the 
Democratic ticket; you did have to question the Republican candidate, 
because his platform did not contain anything worth mentioning, and 
he has, stage by stage, added to it that hberal policy which he proposed, 
and his party — his party organization — has been extremely reticent 
as to whether they agree with him or not. 

"The Democratic candidate has a party behind him and the Re- 
publican candidate has not. The program contains that list of meas- 
ures which is so familiar to you that it is hardly worth while to run them 
over by mention of the whole catalogue; you know what it includes — it 
includes some of the most important features." 

He then took up a discussion of the main features of his previous 
addresses relating to an Employers' Liability law that will do something, 
an extension of direct primaries, an extension of the Civil Service law, a 
Public Utilities Commission that can do something and a Corrupt Prac- 
tices act that will stop some of the flagrant violations of the sacred rights 
of the franchises. These things, he maintained, were the things the 
people of New Jersey have demanded, but demanded in vain, from the 
Republicans in power; and, continuing, he said: 

"I want to speak very plainly to this audience to-night. I have now 
been into every county of the state, and I have seen audiences that 
would move the heart of any man, thronging in numbers and rallying 
around, not a party, not a person, not to accomplish some selfish purpose 
of interest, but to enjoy the experience of hearing the genuine interest 
of the entire Commonwealth candidly discussed. I have tried through- 
out this campaign to be as candid and as fair as I knew how to be; I 
have tried always to dwell upon the merits of every question; I have tried 
to point out to the audiences that I have faced what they wanted to hear, 
and not only what they wanted to hear, but what was right to do in the 
circumstances. 

"What has been done on the other side? Has the level of the cam- 
paign been lifted by the methods of my opponents? Have you heard 



LAST CALL GREATEST 223 

them discuss the questions in a frank and open mood? Have you not 
seen them diligently inventing stories against their opponents? Have 
you not seen them filling the public prints with personal matters which 
are without foundation of facts or justice? What do these gentlemen 
suppose pubHc questions to be? Have they forgotten what American 
politics is? Have they forgotten that this is a question of what com- 
mimities must do, and that it is neither here nor there what the individ- 
uals are? 

"I have not been conducting this campaign because I was the fittest 
person in the state of New Jersey to enjoy the confidence of my fellow- 
citizens. That has not been in my speeches; it has not been in my 
thoughts. I have been trying to explain to you matters of policy, and 
not by aspersions of character. Now, these gentlemen have not discussed 
public questions. Have they forgotten how to discuss public questions? 
Have they forgotten that the people of this Commonwealth are entitled 
to hear public questions expounded? 

"Is government so much a matter of habit, a matter of private arrange- 
ment, that they do not feel the necessity of trying to explain to the 
people? We have been building, building, building, while they have 
been tearing down, tearing down, tearing down. Every acid that can 
eat they have been sprinkling abroad, and no balm that can heal, no tonic 
that can put fresh vigor in the body politic, no hope to lift the people to 
candid and energetic leadership. I do not speak of these things because 
I have been hurt, for I have not. But it is neither here nor there what 
I think of them. The question is what do you think of them? If they 
cannot fight the battle of knowledge and of principle let them get out of 
the arena. 

"We have begun a fight that, it may be, will take many a generation 
to complete, the fight against special privilege, but you know that men are 
not put into tJiis world to go the path of ease; they are put into this world 
to go the path of pain and struggle. No man would wish to sit idly by 
and lose the opportunity to take part in such a struggle. All through the 
centuries there has been this slow, painful struggle forward, forward, up, 
up, a little at a time, along the entire incline, the interminable way, which 
leads to the perfection of force, to the real seat of justice and of honor. 

"There are men who have fallen by the way, blood without stint has 
been shed, men have sacrificed everything in this sometimes blind, but 
always instincti-^'e and constant struggle, and America has undertaken 
to lead the way, America has undertaken to be the haven of hope, the 
opportunity for £.11 men. / 



224 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

"Don't look forward too much. Don't look at the road ahead of you 
in dismay. Look at the road behind you. Don't you see how far up the 
hill we have come? Don't you see what these low and damp miasmatic 
levels were from which we have slowly led the way? Don't you see the 
rows of men come, not upon the lower level, but upon the upper, like the 
rays of the rising sun? Don't you see the light starting and don't you 
see the light illuminating all nations? 

"Don't you know that you are coming more and more into the beauty 
of its radiance? Don't you know that the past is forever behind us, 
that we have passed many kinds of evils no longer possible, that we have 
achieved great ends and have almost seen the fruition in free America? 
Don't forget the road that you have trod, but, remembering it and look- 
ing back for reassurance, look forward with confidence and charity to 
your fellow-men one at a time as you pass them along the road, and see 
those who are willing to lead you, and say, 'We do not believe you know 
the whole road. We know that you are no prophet, we know that you 
are no seer, but we believe that you know the direction and are leading 
us in that direction, though it costs you your life, provided it does not 
cost you your honor.' 

"And then trust your guides, imperfect as they are, and some day, 
when we are all dead, men will come and point at the distant upland with 
a great show of joy and triumph and thank God that there were men who 
undertook to lead in that struggle. What difference does it make if we 
ourselves do not reach the uplands? We have given our lives to the 
enterprise, and that is richer and the moral is greater." 

Mr. Wilson returned to Prospect, his Princeton home, late to-night, 
where he will remain until after the election. After voting he will hie 
himself away somewhere to sleep till Wednesday morning. He will not 
get the election returns. His place of rest is not known even to the cor- 
respondents who have followed the man through these stirring weeks of 
the new kind of campaign. 

The state Democratic leaders are in jubilant mood. They are sure 
victory is with Wilson next Tuesday. State Chairman Nugent declares 
Essex County will give him 7500 majority sure. In one of the most prom- 
inent cafes of the city to-night was posted this notice, which attracted 
much attention: "We have been instructed to state that parties have 
money to back Wilson at 10 to 6 in any sums up to 1 10,000." Up to 
midnight there had been nothing to indicate a grand rush of takers. 



XL 



THE PEOPLE SPOKE * 

The appeal to the reason of the people was irresistible. They re- 
sponded in mighty voice. They knew what was about to happen. They 
had been looking for just that man and Woodrow Wilson was accepted 
as leader by a plurality of 49,056, the largest ever given a candidate for 
Governor of New Jersey, with the single exception of that for Governor 
Stokes, in 1900, when the "Roosevelt tidal wave" swept the state. 
Governor Wilson was given fifteen of the twenty-one counties, and some 
of the fifteen had never before been carried by a Democratic candidate 
for Governor. The result is here presented: 



VOTE FOR GOVERNOR — I9IO 





Wilson 
Dem. 


Lewis, Rep. 


Killing- 
beck, Soc. 


Repp. 
Pro. 


B utter - 

worth 

Soc.-Lab. 


Pluralities 






Demo- 
cratic 


Repub- 
lican 




Atlantic 

Bergen 

Burlington 

Camden 

Cape May 

Cumberland 

Essex 


5253 
12827 

7042 
12985 

2182 

4424 
45279 

427s 
49809 

4818 
1 1839 
IO195 
12321 

7395 

2798 
1 1 149 

3069 

4151 

3190 

13209 

5472 

233682 
184626 
49056 


9926 
9791 
6564 

14651 
2356 
5927 

31069 
4088 

23687 
2591 

1 1692 
8301 
8932 
5856 
2279 

15830 
3097 
3405 
1972 

9895 
2717 


60 

474 

85 

1132 

31 

127 

2322 

135 

2306 

38 

600 

21 

III 

272 

4 

1 108 

53 

21 

IS 

1 140 

79 

10134 


150 
164 

308 
'S 

152 
64 

95 
151 

116 
93 
63 
22 
89 

136 

2818 


26 
54 
19 

146 
5 
18 

412 
20 

582 
12 

18 

22 

357 

9 

5 

181 

9 

2032 


3036 
478 

14210 

187 

26122 

2227 

147 

1894 

3389 

1539 

519 

"746 
1218 
3314 
2755 


4673 

.... 

1666 

174 

1503 


Gloucester 

Hudson 

Hunterdon 

Mercer 

Middlesex 

Monmouth 

Morris 

Ocean . 








Passaic 


4681 
28 


Somerset 








Warren 




Totals 

Wilson's Plurality . 


184626 


61781 


I 


272 


s 



225 



226 A PEOPLE AWAKENED 

Of the stirring sequel to that great verdict of an aroused people much 
has since been written. On the swell of the tremendous tidal wave 
that swept the state seven of the ten Representatives in Congress were 
Democrats, a complete reversal of the political complexion of the state's 
representation. The legislature became Democratic on joint ballot 
for the first time since 1893, when the Republicans swept the state with 
an overwhelming majority. Many of the counties which had hitherto 
tied completely to the Republican bosses' plans broke away and re- 
corded their endorsement of the new leader of men. Some of the results 
were truly amazing to the old-time political managers, for they had 
made no calculations of any such trimnph for the people. Not since 1895 
had the Republicans lost the fight for Governor, and that year their 
majority was 26,900. The following year, with the late Garret A. 
Hobart,a popular New Jerseyman,as the candidate for Vice President, the 
state gave the Republican Presidential ticket more than 87,000 majority; 
in 1908, on the great "Roosevelt tidal wave," it gave the Republican 
electors more than 80,000, and in that year Edward Caspar Stokes was 
chosen Governor by more than 50,000. With this latter exception 
Governor Wilson's was the greatest majority ever given a candidate for 
Governor in New Jersey, and those who made any analysis of the result 
at all were as one as to the cause of this great turnover of votes. 

Of the history of the legislature's endorsement of the Governor's 
and convention pledges, of the controversy over the Senatorship, of the 
attitude of the Governor in that memorable trial of machine influence 
versus popular feeling, another and more complete story must be written 
than is here permitted. Governor Wilson kept every pledge he made to 
the people and, it is known, at great cost to himself. His insistence upon 
the election of James E. Martine as United States Senator as having 
received the majority of the party votes cast at the legally constituted 
primaries cost him the uncompromising enmity of former Senator James 
Smith, Jr. Nothwithstanding that Mr. Smith had, prior to the conven- 
tion, given assurance that he should not be a candidate for Senator, he 
sought the aid of the newly elected Governor to win votes for the coveted 
honor as soon as he discovered that the Wilson triumph had carried a 
majority on joint ballot of the legislature. Of the workings of the 
legislature under the leadership of the Governor stirring chapters might 
be added to this history, but the aim of this modest effort is to set forth 
how the people of New Jersey, for so long in the grip of interests that 
never hesitated to direct legislatures to their own purposes, at last 
awakened. : , 



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